#the thing to know about me is that i ship every mgs character with every other mgs character

[myaoiboy]

u got me reaaaal interested in Otacon x Kaz 👀👀👀

I've been meaning to write some of this out for a while so... (a bunch of brain-barf under the cut)

Okay it's worth saying i have like. 3 or 4 distinct versions of Kaz that stew in my brain with varying levels of canon/fanon/hc influence so just know that like. I'm fully aware of the level of delusion I'm on lmao

First off if you want some fic recs, this is maybe my favorite fic of all time (it currently ends on a cliffhanger fyi, if you're someone that doesn't like reading unfinished fics) https://archiveofourown.org/works/22810450/chapters/54512233

And this is another fic I like a lot, that kind of influenced my characterization of kaz https://archiveofourown.org/works/35337892/chapters/88074730

I feel like Kaz probably originally has some hostility towards Otacon because of Huey. He assumes that much like Snake share's Big Boss's positive traits, Otacon is likely to share some of Huey's traits. He starts out being kind of a dick, Snake probably has to be the one to tell him to tone it down because Otacon is *terrified* of him, absolutely scared to death.

I'm extremely split between accepting canon and being a firm "Kaz didn't die in Alaska" truther, and then split again on what he would do if he didn't die. I think that canon!kaz, if he were spared, would probably fuck off and never be seen again, least of all by Snake. But I think it's more fun if he realizes he holds a guilty conscience for using Snake to kill his ex, and ends up helping with Philanthropy, doing the cooking and bookkeeping for the three of them while Otacon hacks shit and Snake is the boots on the ground.

I think that if he's even capable of feeling guilty, he does at first, inserting himself into whatever they have going on. He's a grouchy old guy and it was already pretty shady to hook up with Snake while he was mentoring him, but now it's a whole different ball game. He knows on a basic human decency level that he should let them be young and together, but decency has never stopped him from doing anything before, so why should it now?

At first, it's just a continuation of his old thing with Snake, and Otacon avoids them both HARD. They hadn't talked about exclusivity (why bother when you're way out in the backcountry? and then always on the run?) so he doesn't figure he has the right to feel hurt.

Kaz definitely is a little smug, but less at Otacon's expense and more in a "still got it" kind of way, and that adds insult to injury. Otacon and Snake have a fight at some point while Kaz is out on a run or a grocery trip, both are kind of assholes, both are kind of right.

It's later while Otacon is tuning up Kaz's prosthetics (it's not like he gets support from the VA when "McDonnel Benedict" Miller is, you know, very much supposed to be dead, so that's Otacon's job now) that they're alone for any substantial length of time. Otacon is, understandably, kind of pissed with him, but never going to say that unprompted, but there's a tension you could cut with a knife. He does intentionally fuck up sensation calibration just once, and it hurts Kaz just a little. Makes him feel just a little better about the whole situation.

Kaz is the first one to speak up and apologizes (poorly, because my man is nothing if not kind of awful at considering other people over his own hedonism) for getting between snake and otacon. He probably also mentions how much Otacon reminds him of Strangelove, in hopes of smoothing things over somewhat. There's probably a weepy conversation about her.

Because the process requires quite a bit of contact (some may say manhandling) Otacon definitely starts to get what Snake sees in Kaz. A touch lingers a little too long while he's re-fitting his arm, or he leaves a hand too long on Kaz's thigh, or he just plain doesn't realize how close his face has gotten to Kaz's, and the next thing he knows he's kissing that old man.

It's pretty chaste between them at that moment but definitely within the next few days they're all three sharing the same bed.

NOBODY has talked with Snake about any of this, and while there's some nagging thought in the back of his mind that it's funny how fast Otacon's opinions of Kaz have flipped, he's mostly just glad they're getting along. Though he IS a bit miffed when he doesn't get to be the middle, I feel.

Weird side note I feel like Otacon deserves Kaz to be a soft dom with a lot of praise. Not sure how in-character I could make that though.

I kind of wonder how much he would be into Hal as his own person as opposed to a way to get back at huey, much like how I think a lot about how much he likes snake as snake vs as BB's son. Or alternately as BB/Ocelot's weird memetic-brother, bc we know he knows about that.

So yeah that's me rambling headcanons about otakaz/otasoilimiller for probably way too long lmaoooo

[reyreadersblog]

ALRIGHT Y'ALL MADE ME DO IT!!!

My unpopular tig/tgg opinions!!

FIRST!

These are MY opinions and i'm allowed to have my own thoughts on certian things, just as you are, okay..? Just wanna..get this out of way, i know everyone is respectful in this fandombut still.

1. this is something that should NOT be an upopular opinion. AVERY IS THE MAIN CHARACTER FOR A REASON. okay? She is a girlboss, and she needs more appretiation, cus literally search up tig on tt rn. Everybody and their cat named Stewie is talking about Grayson and Jameson? WHAT ABOUT MY MG AVERY? And if you see any post about her, it's probably a hate vid about how Avery should've kept the money...SHUT UP. Read what she said carefully..."no one deserves that kind of power.." and then think about it deeply.

2. I DO NOT WANT TIG TO TURN INTO A TV SERIES (or even a movie). i can't name all the reasons 'cus then the the list would be endless. First of all, i know, I JUST KNOW, they'll choose the worst cast ever. And even if they find the most accurate cast for the Hawthorne brother i will still be dissapointed, because the images of them i have in my head...THEY'LL NEVER TOP EM. second of all, they will leave out important moments, just as simple as it sounds, and trust me they will, just like they do with most of the live adaptations of books. Third of all, SHIP WARS!!! I phisically can't with ship war, like I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF EM IN THE PAST WHEN THE BOOKS WERE STILL COMING OUT. And just the thought of Averygrayson shipper saying "yeah Avery and jameson were endgame in the books but they might change it in the movie..." GIVES ME NIGHTMARES. and overall, not everything needs a live adaptation yk? sometimes things just have to stay the way they are.

3. ...this is a bit contrevertial.and i don't want to sound like a hater since i've said this a multiple times before but Rohan's pov was my least favourite in the grandest games. Purely bcs whatever Savannah and Rohan had going on...don't get me wrong, i like Savannah (even tho she did and said some fucked up things) and Rohan, SEPERATLY. But them being together...idk man, they were too..."booktokish" for my liking, yk? and i do love banter and teasing, but they were like basic "i like you but i like winning more" "couple". Not to mention they were so random...like where did they come from? I remember when we first saw Sav and Rohan having the same symbols on their cards i was very excited, i expected a different dynamic between them...PLUS THE WHOLE GAME THEY JUST WANTED TO FUCK💀

4. Hating Alisa Ortega and loving Grayson Hawthorne is CRAZYYY, and i'm saying this bcs they're pretty similar in different ways. And the thing is people are mad at Alisa for "saying mean words to Libby" (she was literally doing her job, you would understand if you were at her place) MEANWHILE GRAYSON LITERALLY THREATENED A HEIRESS! (sayin this as a Gray stan) *sigh* y'all are something else🤦🏻‍♀️.

5. Ohh...this one is risky...BUT CAN Y'ALL STOP ACTING LIKE JAMESON IS BLAMELESS?? all i see is Grayson slander, AND I UNDERSTAND, he fucked up, but saying "Jameson was so much better than Grayson" is a lie, at least for me. (He was better for Avery tho) he fs made mistakes that fandoms chooses to ignore. Like lets not act like treating Avery like a toy wasn't wrong. Lets not act like him blaming Grayson for everything wasn't wrong. Let's not act like him reminding Grayson of Emily's death wasn't wrong. And i know that later on both him and Grayson had a great character development, but still, i've never seen anyone talk about this.

6. This isn't about tig. But LIKING JLBS WORK AND BEING HER FAN DOESN'T MEAN YOU'RE GLAZING HER💀 (talking about an argument i had a while ago...) like is it so hard for your brain to understand that it's called having an opinion. Idc if it's JLB or any other author, okay? Like i've read almost every Jlb's books and i love them, AND i also publicly talk about how much iblove her work, does that mean i'm glazing her? UHM NO WTF💀.

7. LET. PEOPLE. HAVE. PREFRENCE. (I'm talking about ships btw) . Someone prefers LyraGray over Averyjameson, and that's okay. Someone loves Averyjameson the most, and that's also okay, someone likes Libbynash more then Xandermax, AND THAT IS ALSO OKAY.

I'll probably do part 2, i have more to say i'm just really tired rn.

Also it's not proof read so sorry if there are many mistakes.

[illarian-rambling]

@davycoquette with the fun question games again!

Get to Know the Writblr

Gonna put this under a cut because it got long, but feel free to treat this as an open tag if you want to hop on!

On the Tumblr Writing Community:

How long have you had your writing Tumblr/Writeblr?

Since the beginning of the year, maybe? Sometime in February, I think.

What led you to create it?

I was feeling pretty lonely having no one to talk to about my writing. None of my real-life friends are writers and I'm really terrible at expressing my interests verbally, so I figured online might be the place to go. So far, I've been right!

What’s your favorite thing about the Writeblr community?

Oh, the people, for sure. It's incredibly rare that I come across anyone being less than supportive on here. No matter our skill level, I really feel like every writer on here has a sense of being in this shit together.

What’s one thing you’d like your mutuals to know about you?

Hmmm.... I'm pretty open about sharing things about myself, so idk if there's anything major I haven't touched on yet. I wake up at 4am every morning for work, so if you see me posting at an egregious time, that's why. Also, if you ever want martial arts tips for your fight scenes, I'm your gal!

Is there anything you’d like to see more of on your dash?

I love it when people make memes of their ocs. Makes me giggle every time.

What tips/advice do you have for someone who made a Writeblr today?

You gotta interact with people. I know it can be scary, but even a reblog with no tags can make another writer smile. Chances also are, if you leave a nice comment on someone's work, they might check you out and leave a nice comment on yours! A community isn't a community unless you go out and commune :)

WIP it Good:

Which Works-in-Progress (WIPs) or writing projects are you noodling about, lately?

Lately, I've been juggling writing my first draft of Mortal God book 3 (tentatively title being The Machinations of Machine and Man) and going over @kaylinalexanderbooks lovely comments on MG1. My ghost ship project is also on a low simmer in the back of my brain, but I'm trying to leave that until I'm done with MG3.

How long have you been working on them?

Good lord, I started MG1 about... almost two years ago now? Damn, it feels like it's been so much longer. But hey, three book drafts in two years ain't bad! Honor's Outcasts, which is largely written by now, I started about three years ago.

Do you remember what inspired them/what got you started?

The two main characters of MG started as a vague daydream, which then became two important dnd npcs along with MG's main villain. I ended up liking them all so much that I wrote a short story which became *drumroll* three entire books! A lot of my inspiration came from Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and the Foundryside Trilogy of books. I can't think of anyone specifically who inspired the characters, except that Astra was originally based on the archetype of the silent wandering cowboy/samurai as seen in a lot of Kurosawa films and old westerns. For anyone familiar with her, uh, things changed quite a lot.

How much time, in your best estimation, do you spend thinking about them?

At least ten percent of my brain's storage is dedicated to my wips at all times. As for how often I'm actively thinking about them... it's also quite a lot.

When someone asks the dreaded, “What do you write about,” question, what do you usually say?

"Uh, fantasy stuff?" is my go-to.

What do you want to say (if it’s different from what you do say)?

I really wish I had the ability to explain my wips as succinctly with speech as I do with writing, but alas. I would want to give a nice, book jacket blurb that doesn't give away too much of the crazy shit.

Let’s Rotate Blorbos:

Name any characters you created.

I think I'm really good at names, so we're gonna go down the list!

Izjik Meautammera

Sepo Kaiacynthus

Twenari Undetasib/Devaris

Djek Kagura

Astra DuClaire

Mashal Darezsho

Ivander Montane

Elsind Cavernsight

Duchon Avymere Kalaphon Spearsong III

Faalgun Falani

Nyda Burningrock

Kaulakri Ondohuroata

Pashananath

Anarac Fifth-Blood

Who’s the most unhinged?

Unhinged in terms of violence? Sepo for sure. Unhindered in terms of sheer chaos? I'm gonna go with Izjik and Djek as a duo. Between both of their high charismas and low intelligences, along with their combined expertise in fighting and creative uses of magic, they're unbeatable.

Who comes the most naturally for you to write?

Probably Izjik. I've been writing in her POV for the longest.

Do you ever cringe at them?

Sometimes yeah, when they do something real stupid. But, then again, I did make them that way.

How much control do you feel you have over your characters?

I think I know my characters really well and base my plot around their motives, so there really isn't a huge need for control.

Do you enjoy people asking questions about your characters?

PLEASE!!! FEED ME ASKS! I'LL TAKE ANYTHING!

On Writeblr Engagement:

What makes you want to follow another Writeblr account?

Probably creativity. I've read a looooot of fantasy/sci-fi, so if you're doing something I've never seen before, I'll probably give you a follow.

What makes you decide against following?

Any kind of hateful rhetoric or someone who doesn't want 18+ interaction. Other than that, I think it's important to follow people who write different genres or have different methods than me.

Do you interact with non-mutuals often?

I wouldn't say so. I get a little shy doing that.

Do your mutuals’ characters occupy space in your noodle?

The characters of @kaylinalexanderbooks @mk-writes-stuff and @somethingclevermahogony all have a little place in my brain. Favorites from each include Robbie and Akash (not to be separated), Narul and Bop (love me a good living weapon/teddybear of a dude team-up), and Nellie and Stellaris (their earnest kindness makes my heart happy). If you haven't yet, you should go check out their stuff and see for yourself!

And with that, thanks for reading! Go out and have yourself a bitchin day <3

[soukeyed]

01 matel gear 02 otasune strangeboss and/or whoever u want 03 Talk about my bff Strangelove please. and/or whoever

METAL GEAR WOOO WOOOOO

Favorite character: STRANGELOVE !! OR THE BOSS. OR OTACON . OR SNAKE. or emma or meryl or eva um theres a few

Least Favorite character: ummm ummmmm ummmmmmmmm. huey obviously lol. also mgs4 naomi specifically mgs4 ... sorry girl im so sorry. also senator armstrong/sundowner/monsoon/whoever tf else is part of the rising guys im just sick of seeing their ugly faces

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): STRANGEBOSS NUMBER ONE FOREVER YEAAH. otasune number 2 obviously :) umm fortune and olga is pretty cute ... bosseva as well .. i cant fucking think of a 5th help. meiryl? also i like bosselot but specifically for how stupid fucked up they are

Character I find most attractive: the boss strangelove eva (specifically big mama) or mgs4 meryl :P

Character I would marry: MERYL !1 GIRLFRIEND FOR ME NOW itd be the boss or strangelove but i would never break them up like that.

Character I would be best friends with: STRANGELOVE !! together we will kill huey mwah. or para medic even if she is insane we will watch movies together. slay

a random thought: i think about that post about otacon being the one to carry out the boss' will without even knowing every single day. Oh my god. wauh. ok hang on one second i found it. AUHHH

An unpopular opinion: rising mid as fuck and the fans make me hate it. also i um. dont really care a lot for bb and the bb focused games sorry. like i get the point and mgsv's visuals+gameplay do slay but bb as a character i didnt really find myself invested in a lot and the weird hero worship some of the fandom has for him does NOT help LOL. like the people around him (ocelot eva miller eli etc) were way more interesting . also EVEN MORE unpopular opinion as a result of this ... mgs3 isnt really all that for me and even though its objectively pretty shit mgs4 is one of my favourites (behind mgs1 and ghost babel)

My Canon OTP: STRANGEBOSS !!!!!!! THANKS FOR THE LESBIANS KOJIMA!!!!

My Non-canon OTP: calling otasune noncanon feels so sickening but i need to face reality. so otasune

Most Badass Character: Hrmm. hrmmmmm. ok its a bit out there but otacon. after the shitty childhood that he came out of pretty um.. (gestures at the whole making a nuclear weapon thing) convinced he/his family was cursed etc etc. forming philanthropy, adopting sunny, basically ending the cycle that his grandfather and father started+perpetuated and fulfilling the boss' will :) just makes me happy. hes great. also he got to marry solid snake at the end of it all so like slay? like hes not badass in the usual sense of the word but his character development and evolution is incredibly badass to me. next step: therapy

Most Epic Villain: i dont think you can call a lot of them epic on account of every mgs villain being goofy as fuck. BUT. liquid ocelot as a villain in what was (supposed to be) the conclusion of the entire series was pretty fucking awesome though

Pairing I am not a fan of: pbbb. umm. i dont really care for snake/fox im way more emotionally invested in fox/gustava personally (still upset she didnt get mentioned in mgs!!!!!!!!! RAHH.) also johnny/meryl was so out of nowhere i still do not understand it like its funny as fuck but JOHNNY??? IT SHOULD BE ME WITH MERYL!!1 ME !!!!!!!

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): arhg. raiden. i mean gestures at rising. this could also count as unpopular opinion but i preferred him as inexperienced and a little stupid i mean even then the direction they were going in in mgs4 was pretty good with him being jaded and feeling alone. and then rising was just. huah ?!?! what ?!?!?!? also. um. ok naomi. mgs1 naomi was so so fucking good ok her speech at the end slays i loved everything about her can you imagine my shock and dismay at her doing all THAT in mgs4 ?!?!? like i could write a 50 page essay on how it fucks up her (and otacons LOL) entire character development ALSO WHY WAS FOX LIKE NEVER MENTIONED DESPITE THEM LITERALLY GOING BACK TO THE PLACE WHERE HE DIED BTW I THOUGHT SHED HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT THAT. but honestly just the thing i hate about it all most is at the end of it all shes framed as like.. the hero. using emma+sunnys code to save da world or whatever and i guess maybe that speech was supposed to reflect her mgs1 speech but it just doesnt work when mgs4 didnt give her half of that nuance. her morals are still so ??? to me, her and vamp was such a WEIRD choice, her and otacon was um. ok look i know the writers 100% didnt mean to portray otacons csa as that at all but like it is ... anyway having a csa victim be once again manipulated via sex and not really talk about it was just ?!??!! guys ?!?!? anyway AGAIN if all of that was portrayed as nuanced as it should have been. like naomi doing what she had to to save the world and struggling w her own morals. which it IS but we learn this only in that fuckign speech for like 1 line. like its jut bad. ok to end this half the women in mgs were done horrifically but we all know that. sorry for the wall of text i love you

Favourite Friendship: SNAKE AND MERYL funny as fuck whenever she insults him in mgs4 like deserve. sorry snake. ok no WOAH though i just loved mgs4 meryl entirely even though she definitely couldve been written a bit better, like her talking about how she used to admire snake so much and now hes just BITTER and OLD like ohhh its so slay. like i dont know if you could even call it a friendship but the way they clash entirely and debatably the only place where they can agree on things and work together is in the context of the battlefield ITS SO GOOD

Character I most identify with: otacon D:

Character I wish I could be: similar to utena NONE i would not put myself through that.

AGAIN REST UNDER THE READMORE GO!

otasune time

002 | Send me a ship and I will tell you:

When I started shipping them: again i was aware of them before the games because (points at dmitri) so i guess like always

My thoughts: GRAHH. the way theyre like all but canon like kojima just say the word. that cigarette lighting scene in mgs4 WHEW. like the way they invented love its just crazy to me like really. theyre everything to me.

What makes me happy about them: everything :) the way theyve both grown as people over the years... i already talked about otacons character development but SNAKE TOO!! him finally letting people in .. finding a place for himself OUTSIDE of the battlefield .... its all so WAUGHH. like they just work off of eachother so well. love wins. gay marriage. slay. bursts into tears

What makes me sad about them: mgs4 that is all. they had so little time together. i spend half the time watching the game yelling ITS NOT FAIR!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ITS NOT FAIR

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: umm i dont read a lot of fic to be honest so i guess standard fanfic complaints. also more of you should write about mgs4 there is so much untapped potential.

Things I look for in fanfic: again. WRITE ABOUT MGS4.

My wishlist: MGS4 OTASUNE !!!!!!!!!!!! BECOMES A WEREWOFL.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: sorry they are simply endgame to me.. i cant think of anyone LOL

My happily ever after for them: snake gets cured post-mgs4! how i dont care he just is. gay marriage becomes real. together they raise sunny and grow old together and everything is peace and love on planet earth :) god bless

STRANGEBOSS TIME!

002 | Send me a ship and I will tell you:

When I started shipping them: ok not until i actually got around to pw! dmitri you mentioned a few times but i didnt realise until then to be honest

My thoughts: AGAHRHGHGHGHGHGHGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. GOD. GOD. lesbianism. women. they are genuinely just everything to me. how can a relationship be so fucking powerful and tragic when you only ever hear about it from one side. Oh my god. AUH.

What makes me happy about them: canon lesbians in my metal gear games in the fuckass 2010s :) ok no but the way strangelove talks about the boss with such open earnest love. like i just. wauh. listening to her tapes is just. WAUH.

What makes me sad about them: i mean everything. as strangelove said they were just ships passing in the night :( THEY SHOULDVE HAD MORE TIME !!!!!!!!!!!

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: again dont read fanfic a lot but ive checked and theres not a whole lot for them at all anyway LOL

Things I look for in fanfic: any strangeboss fic to begin with would be nice. if you have recs give them to me. i'll cry

My wishlist: umm.. again more content of them in general. konami youre shit the least you could do is make a strangeboss spinoff.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: umm idk considering they both die LOL. bosseva is a fun ship but honestly i dont think strangelove ever really got over it so i cant see her with anyone else in a serious relationship

My happily ever after for them: isnt it crazy how they both managed to fake their deaths and now live happily in some random country away from the horrors of war? like woah!

STRANGELOVE TIME!

003 | Give me a character & I will tell you:

How I feel about this character: man what dont i feel about her. shes amazing. shes bitter shes heartbroken shes dramatic as fuck and shes a badass. like its tragic but tell me creating a whole ass ai based off your dead girlfriend in the fucking 70s isnt slay as fuck? women in stem strong!

Any/all the people I ship romantically with this character: THE BOSSSSS. as i said b4 i dont really see her with anyone else tbh

My favorite non-romantic relationship for this character: ok yeah there .. isnt a lot. i wish her terrible and awkward relationship with bb had been explored more though like the way she just HATES him at the start is amazing.

My unpopular opinion about this character: uhh.. yeah idk shes not really talked about enough for me to know if any of my opinions ARE unpopular lol. a shocking amount of people see strangeboss as unrequited so i guess my unpopular opinion is that they were definitely both in love LOL

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: just give her more relationships tbh... i already talked about bb but like do you think she knew ocelot was the boss' son ... what did she think of him shed probably dislike him for doing the complete opposite of the boss' will (though in the end he does help take down the patriots so liiike?) ... i would pay millions of dollars for them to interact it would be atrocious. in general i wish shed been given just a little more depth outside of the boss (like give me more about how she grew up!!! what kind of mother was she to otacon!!! and ps i wish hed spoken about her even though ik she wasnt even a thing before the solid snake era wrapped up) though ig that was the point considering she was so consumed with grief... but yk. shrugs.

Favorite friendship for this character: again idk. GIVE HER MORE FRIENDS.

My crossover ship: again i dont do crossovers. SHRUGS!!

[dragonbinx]

Secret Santa

Part of my Christmas series from last winter.  Posted on Ao3 here.

Series: Legacies

Ship: Hizzie, BenJed

Characters: Lizzie Saltzman, Ben, Jed Tien, Hope Mikaelson, MG, Kaleb Hawkins, Cleo Sowande, Finch Tarrayo

“We’re gonna do a Secret Santa!” MG exclaimed, looking very proud of himself.

There was a moment of silence as every face in the room turned dubious.

“Oh, come on, guys, we need a team building thing. Cleo’s been busy learning about being a fury, Jed doesn’t even live here anymore, we barely know Ben - no offense, man, you seem cool aside from betraying us that one time - and me and Lizzie are … well, we’re working on it.”

The rest of the Squad exchanged glances. It was two weeks until Christmas, and it was the first time they’d all been in a room together in weeks.

“Fine,” Lizzie conceded, because MG was right and because she still felt bad about the breakup. “Let’s get this over with.”

“That’s the spirit, kinda.” MG held out a Santa hat with little papers inside. “Everyone pick a name, no switches, and everything has to be under a hundred bucks.”

The hat was passed around without enthusiasm, but without complaints either. Lizzie looked down at her name and felt her lip curl without permission. Ben. Great. What to get the demigod who has nothing and also seems to want nothing? The only thing she really knew about him was he was obsessed with Jed, which wasn’t helpful. Maybe she could get him bigger shirts, he always seemed to be in ones a size too small.

“Okay, everybody have a name?” MG rubbed his hands enthusiastically. “Great! Deadline is the twenty-third before everybody has to travel, please make it personal, and have fun!”

The group dispersed, but Hope and Lizzie lingered, making matching faces of dread at one another. Lizzie held up her slip of paper. “I got Ben. You?”

“Uh, not telling. That would be cheating, Lizzie.”

She rolled her eyes. “Of course, we wouldn’t want to ruin Secret Santa. It’s definitely not a weird, forced socialization thing that will probably end with all of us giving gift cards.”

Hope stood up, shaking her head at Lizzie fondly. “I know you can do better than a gift card. And MG’s right, we could use the chance to bond, right?”

“I guess.”

She jumped a little when Hope pressed a warm hand to the skin of her shoulder when her sweatshirt dipped. “I think you should have some faith in this idea. After all, whoever is your Secret Santa might surprise you.”

Hope walked away before Lizzie could think of anything to say to that, let alone stop blushing. Having a potentially unrequited crush was truly inconvenient, she couldn’t imagine how MG had dealt with it for so many years.

Speaking of MG, she saw him through the window, looking like he was heading for Jed and Ben’s RV. She got up and hurried out the door after him, hoping to figure out one of her problems right then and there.

*

“Who’d you get?” Jed winced when Ben showed him Kaleb’s name, cementing his belief that this would be a less than ideal situation for him.

“He still doesn’t like me, does he?” He opened the RV door for Jed. While they had a room in the school, they often preferred to be alone here or at the Old Mill, Ben especially glad for the solitude at the moment.

“Well, he could’ve forgiven you for his car getting torched or the parking meter to the face, but both is probably going to take a while.”

“That’s probably fair. Do you think there’s a gift that will lessen his ire at all?”

“If you’ve got a lot of money lying around I don’t know about, his car. Otherwise,” Jed shrugged to indicate how hopeless Ben’s predicament was.

There was a knock on their RV door. They exchanged confused glances before Ben pulled it open to reveal Lizzie and MG.

“Hey, guys,” MG greeted. “We just wanted to check in with you guys. You haven’t been home very long and you keep hanging out here.”

Lizzie had already pushed her way in, letting MG trail in behind her, and perched on kitchen table, looking around the small space with a critical eye. “This is … cute.”

“It’s awesome, and why are you here?” Jed asked, crossing his arms.

“Like MG said, I’m trying to be a good friend, bring you two out of your isolation.” She wrinkled her nose at the sight of their garbage can. “That is a lot of styrofoam. How much takeout do you eat?”

“We are still learning to cook, given neither of us previously had much opportunity to learn,” Ben informed her with as much dignity as he could, crowded into the corner to allow everyone else room to fit comfortably and defending their clear reliance on takeout.

Lizzie still winced, probably at the reminder of his curse. “Right, of course. Sorry.”

“Hey Ben, are all these your books?” MG had found their small library, mostly stuck in clear containers under their bed.

“Some. Most are Jed’s. He’s been taking a few college classes over the internet,” Ben said proudly, making Jed smile shyly at him. Jed hadn’t really talked about it much because he’d been nervous that he wouldn’t be any better at college courses than he’d been at high school, but from what Ben understood, he was doing very well.

“Wait, really? I didn’t know you were going to collage, Jed!”

MG seemed to be genuinely happy about it, but Jed clearly had picked up the same surprise in his voice that Ben had, and he scowled. “It’s not that weird, I graduated high school.”

“Oh, right I didn’t mean … that’s great, Jed,” MG tried to recover with a big, awkward smile.

Lizzie, who had been poking around their refrigerator while this conversation had been going on, closed it and grabbed MG’s arm. “Okay, good talk. Jed, Ben, it was great to see you, come into the school next time. Let’s go!” Then she pulled MG out, closing the RV door behind them.”

Ben tilted his head. “They may have us for Secret Santa.”

“Y’think? And I thought I was crap at being subtle.”

*

“You think they figured out why we were there?”

“Who knows, it’s Jed. Although he’s taking college classes now, so who knows.”

“Right? But good for him, I think it’s great.” MG sighed. “I could’ve sounded less shocked, huh?”

“At least we got good ideas for gifts, right?”

When they were almost at the school, MG pulled Lizzie aside, a serious look on his face. “I’m not your Secret Santa but I thought I’d give you a gift anyway.”

“MG …” Lizzie sounded pained to her own ears. She’d had this kind of conversation a lot with MG when he was trying to win her over. Now that they’d given a relationship a try, she knew it only ended one way, and she didn’t want to have to hurt him. Again.

“Don’t worry, it’s a good thing.” MG took one of her hands in his. “It’s okay that you have a thing for Hope.”

Sharp panic sparked in her chest. “What are you talking about? Me and Hope? Please, I just moved her from ‘frenemy’ to ‘friend’ in my hierarchy of acquaintances, and now you think I’m romantically interested in her? Milton Greasley, your imagination can really run away from you.”

“Uh-huh, sure. I get it, you aren’t ready to talk about it, especially with me.” He looked at her with that earnest MG look, the one he got before he gave big speeches before they faced insurmountable odds together. “But I want you to be happy, Lizzie. No matter what’s going on with us, that’s all I’ve ever really wanted. So if there were someone you were into, and you did want to tell them at Christmas, you should know that I’d be okay. That we’d be okay.”

She looked down and blinked away any forming tears, before giving MG the best smile she could. “You know you’re probably the best friend I’ve ever had, MG.”

“Of course I am. I’m amazing.”

“You really are.”

*

On the twenty-third, things went were going well, at least as far as Ben could tell. Finch had gotten Cleo and gave her what were apparently very nice paint brushes. Finch was given a leather jacket with studs on it by Kaleb, while Cleo gifted MG a statue of him as his favorite superhero, making him hug her for a minute straight in excitement.

MG hesitantly handed Jed his present, an extensive compendium of world myths. “I saw the stuff you were studying, and I thought you might be into it,” he explained, probably hesitant after his initial reaction to Jed attending college.

Ben nudged Jed gently and Jed gave him a look that suggested he didn’t need the encouragement. “Thanks, MG. This is really nice.”

MG perked up, looking please he’d gotten it right. “Great, I’m glad you like it! Who’s next?”

To Ben’s complete lack of surprise, Lizzie stood up and handed her present to him, a thin envelope. “I got you five cooking lessons with the guy that runs the Grill while you’re here in January. The two of you need to eat things that aren’t takeout.”

He was taken aback. It was exactly what he wanted; a practical skill that could be used for both him and Jed. “That’s perfect, Lizzie. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. And you owe me a dinner when you’re good at it.” She looked around expectantly. “Okay, who’s got me?”

“I do,” Hope said, avoiding her eyes. “But it’s in another room, I’ll show you when everyone else is done.”

Lizzie seemed to want to protest, but MG plowed over her. “Okay then, the last one is Kaleb! Ben, since you’re the last one left, I’m guessing that’s you, so give him your gift. And Kaleb, remember it’s Christmas and be nice.”

Ben looked at Jed, who gave him a small nod and rubbed his thumb on the back of Ben’s hand comfortingly. He took a deep breath, and stood, rubbing his palms on his jeans. “My.present is outside.”

They all trooped out to the front of the school, where Kaleb’s car was now parked. Kaleb’s jaw dropped. “Wait, what did you do?”

“I improved it. Or, I tried to. My sister is skilled with automobiles, and she helped me. The engine will no longer stall out, the steering is better aligned, and she said the acceleration has a kick now, whatever that means. And I hope you like the new color.”

Kaleb walked down the stairs to his car slowly. He ran his hand over the candy red paint. “It’s not bad,” he allowed.

“I can’t give you back the car you burned trying to help me, but I hoped this might help mitigate the loss.” Ben swallowed heavily, leaning slightly back into Jed behind him.

Kaleb nodded thoughtfully, then looked at Ben for a minute, letting him fidget. Finally, he said, “Cleo and I were going to pick up something for lunch at the Grill. You and Jed wanna come with us, help me test this thing out?”

Jed knocked his shoulder into Ben’s and he gave Kaleb a lopsided smile, hopeful but still a little anxious. “We would enjoy that.”

“Awesome, let’s go!” Jed grabbed Ben’s hand, then looked over at MG. “I mean, we’re done here, right?”

“Well, I guess we did all the presents …”

“Cool, bye.” He pulled Ben down the stairs, Cleo following behind them, chuckling. “Merry Christmas everybody, text us if you want us to bring you anything back!”

He pushed Ben into the back of the car and clambered in after him. They were too big to fit very well but Jed leaned into him happily, and he wrapped an arm around him and pulled him closer, feeling surprisingly optimistic. Maybe fitting in with Jed’s friends wasn’t going so badly after all.

*

After the station wagon drove away, the rest of the party broke up, except for the heretic and tribrid. Lizzie turned to Hope and gave her an expectant look. “Well?”

Hope smiled faintly before tipping her head. “Follow me.”

They wandered through the school, Lizzie getting more and more confused as they went. “Okay, seriously, where are we going? You better not be taking me outside, it’s like nineteen degrees.”

“It’s not outside and we’re almost there.”

“We’re almost where, what are you …”

Hope pushed open the doors to the kitchen, where there was a surprisingly cheery and almost childish display. There were big bright balloons, pastel wrapped presents, and a cute three-tiered caked in the middle of the counter.

“Its your eleventh birthday party. You remember, the birthday I ruined?” Hope explained when Lizzie just stood there, wide-eyed. “I made the cake, and I asked Caroline about some of the presents I messed up.” She held up a Leia action figure. “Apparently your mom got this for you.”

“Aw, I love it,” Lizzie crooned, taking the doll and admiring it, before noticing the amusement on Hope’s face, clearing her throat and putting it down on the counter. “I mean, I would have loved it, then. It was a good present.”

Hope was smiling widely now, clearly happy with Lizzie’s reaction. “So you like it?”

Lizzie stepped closer, shaking her head in wonder. “Hope Andrea Mikaelson,” she murmured, sighing as she came to a decision.

She bent down and kissed Hope softly, sweetly, and briefly. “Thank you for my present.”

Hope beamed up at her and laughed happily. “You’re welcome.

Lizzie looked over at the counter. “So do I finally get to eat my cake now?”

“In a minute.” Hope looped her arms around Lizzie’s neck, backed her up to the counter, and pulled her down to kiss her again, open-mouthed and lush.

Lizzie had to give MG credit. Secret Santa had been a great idea.

[hetakiba]

for the ship asks: kim/harry, guts/casca, snake/otacon

Fantastic ships thank you...

I answered harry and kim in the post before this, very fun I got them twice!

Guts/casca: I don't ship it,

1. Why not?

Yeah, I just don't think guts likes casca, romantically for sure, as a person is debatable. Obviously, there's been many an incident in canon that puts me pretty opposing them having any sort of relationship at all lol. But in general, I think guts is mostly not super a people person in general, and that casca would functionally fill the same role in his life as like a coworker he likes more than some of the others, to me. I'd like to think Casca would never really be interested in guts or griffith romantically, despite canon, though she may think she is, I would headcanon that interest as misplaced admiration (in my head, both characters are gay)

2. What would have made you like it?

You'd have to change nearly every major detail of their time together, obviously the rape business, all of the post eclipse moments, guts would pretty much have to be a completely different character. Griffith would have to not exist also, in universe, and farnese would have to be not an option on the shipping table as well

3. Any positive thoughts on it?

I think their canon relationship was interesting at times. I don't really have much else

Snake/otacon: I obviously ship it,

1. What made you ship it?

Man I really can't remember when I first started liking this ship 🤔 Generically, I guess there's a lot of canon scenes that lend to it. I remember watching like a 1-3 hour long compilation of "gay" moments in mgs and their moments were the most heartful, to me. So I guess I'd say I just thought of them as a couple simply from playing the game

2. What are your favorite things about the ship?

Everything. The contrast in their outward appearances/personalities, indeed their lifetime of partnership, how their relationships with eachother are like representative of moving past their past struggles/trauma and undoing the generational cyclical bullshit their equally insane family lives established. They're both awkward in very different ways, they both really want the same things of life, their complexities as characters just complement each other well. But also they're very silly. Like I said about harry and kim, I like pairs with that big dichotomy of being either silly fun/funny or very deep/tragic, in turn. They build a happy future together from some tragic beginnings!! They find meaning and hope in living... Also, they are good friends as well. I also love how ridiculous their first meeting is, and how that compares to say, how they treat eachother in mgs2 (meaning like how they go from that to a meaningful relationship) or their canonical ending in mgs4. They are also both very earnest people as well, which I always enjoy. I just think about them all the time, and it's always a positive

3. Is there any unpopular opinion you have on it?

🤔 uh I could see them being t4t? But I don't think that's very unpopular within the snotacon subtag. I see them both as gay? Idk, I'm having a hard time coming up with anything, for all I know something I've already said is unpopular

[skullleafz]

I basically sent these two clips in this batch to my friends and one of them asked if they’re canon, so if you were me, the 4 hours ago before I sat down and watched this it’s a lil deceiving but I mean idk it’s a thing that’s kinda a if you squint and turn your head you see it,

So overall what did I think of mgs

It’s kinda cringe but overall wasn’t horrible. It’s 100% not a game for me. I later found out that mgs is the third game so no wonder I was confused but not fully I was still able to keep up overall. I think the writing was at times bad. The game came out in 1998 so that’s no excuse for it. I felt like the women were so one dimensional. Like the only thing they cared about was snake. Like with Meryl, her whole thing is she’s a lost soul who doesnt know what shes doing with her life but she immediately enamored with snake. Like I get it he’s a renowned soldier and he helps her over the course of the game but their whole relationship to me felt forced. Like they don’t have that much chemistry but at the end snake is all like I want to make a life with you Meryl, Go off king hope y’all last a week

Otacon whole character is ehh he gets better but like he’s a scientist/hacker who’s pretty stupid. “Hey snake I know this lady(sniperwolf) tried to kill you and successfully killed Meryl (so they believe) but she’s nice to me and hot so don’t kill her” LIKE GIRL COME ON

I think for the ship of ota and snake is believable if snakes closeted so hard that he flirts with every chick to be a cover. He’s a spy so he’s pretty good at acting so?

I might give metal gear a chance because like I said I didn’t hate it so I definitely want to see what people like about the series. (If ota and snakes characters relationship develop significantly over the course of the game, if anyone sees this, pls let me know

I’ll end it with liquid snake is fruity. There were moments with voice lines were very limp wristed

[mgjong]

★ Intro Post ★

| She/Her | 20 | Lesbian | INTP | Hi, I am Mg and I scream about characters and stuff!

➤Current hyperfixation: MILGRAM & GREEK MYTHOLOGY

In this blog: ➜ Art and text reblogs, mainly pertaining to the current fandom(s) ➜ Analysis and videos/AMVs (rarely) ➜ Rambles ➜ General simping and the occasional vent

DMs are always open, feel free to tag me in stuff! If there is something you need me to tag, please inform me. My blog is a safe space for all kinds of people as long as you are civil and not a bigot <3

Fandom specific info, tag guide and post masterlist below ⤵

》》 About me

➜ I go by Mg but you are free to use whatever nickname you want ➜ 20 so not a minor. University trying to kick my ass but idgaf ➜ I am just... very gay, apologies for that, I love women ➜ English/Portuguese/Spanish (awful speaker but I understand) ➜ I am a cat person. This is very important and not ironic at all ➜ I am very shy and it's hard for me to initiate conversations but if I start talking I can't shut up ➜ I have some trouble understanding social cues so if something I said wasn't worded correctly or something I did came across in a way that made you feel uncomfortable, please reach out to me. I am trying to grow as a person!

》》 Milgram Specific Info I joined this fandom early September, exactly one week after TPM's release. I haven't been here for that long but it has been a blast. Can't wait for trial 3 to destroy us all! ➜ Characters: My favourite character is Kotoko. My posts and reblogs are usually about her. Literally can't leave my brain Having said that there is no character I dislike and I love discussing all of them so if you ever want my opinion on someone feel free to ask. I love reading theories about every character ➜ Ships and Pairings: All ships in this blog are tagged so you may filter at your own discretion. While I understand this is not exactly the right series for it I do indulge in some shipping My favourite pairing is 0610 and I won't shut up about them Other pairings I like include 0507, muurei and 0909 I am open to most other ships to varying degrees, just don't ship adults with children please. I love most platonic pairings, especially 030910 (they are siblings your honor), 0010, 0710, 0104, 0206, 0810, etc. ➜ Voting: I will be voting everyone innocent on the third trial regardless of what they do. We will be definitely pushed to vote guilty and I am not falling for that. JOIN THE T3 INNO ARMY TODAY!

》》 Other Info ➜ I write sometimes and have an AO3 but haven't posted anything in a while ➜ I have a youtube channel where I post my videos unlisted ➜ My discord is literally mgjong so feel free to add me there! (Just give me a heads up first so I know who you are) ➜ I have a side-blog... which I won't link here for your own good. I am sure you can easily find it if you try <3 (considering deleting this one but whatever)

》》 Post Masterlist ➜ Videos and AMVs Hated by Life Itself - Milgram AMV Only thing I am proud of right now since the rest made people hate me or smth

This post is still a wip

PS: GO CHECK OUT @polarmary I AM HERE TO HYPE THE ART SHE MAKES FROM OUR SILLY IDEAS!

Tag guide? What tag guide, I only use these two:

[kylorens]

Solid Snake and Finn for the ask game?

hey. send me a character/ship and I'll tell you

On the og reblog I said I won't be able to write down cohesive words but I'll try bc I usually NEVER get asks on my ask game reblogs lol THANKS &lt;3

my general perception of them

Snake: OK so if you know me, you know what I'm going to say. This man HAS ME in his chokehold, okay? This man could throw me on the ground, stomp on me and I'd thank him. Somehow in such a short time he's become one of my favorite characters of all time. He's got the heart, the look and everything. I love the fact that he never stops trying. <3 Even though the world doesn't deserve this at all!!! I love him.

also I'm more of a moobs girl but i realized the importance of ass thanks to him. I also like thighs a lot so we will sexualize the old man.

Finn: FINN IS LITERALLY ONE OF MY FAV SW CHARACTERS and I just get SO MAD thinking how badly he was treated in the trilogy. I had such high hopes for him so it was so sad to watch it all fall apart. I still think if the EU ever starts to think about continuing on where TROS left, he still could be made into a Jedi knight. I WANT TO BELIEVE. (So far the only thing we have is the LEGO movies lmfao. Even they know that Finn should be training !!)

Anyway. I always thought that giving a redemption arc to a random stormtrooper was a great idea. Imagine if he became a full on Jedi ok not going back to that whole rant I absolutely love how big hearted he is and the way he got super courageous even in the first movie alone.

OKAY I CAN'T NOT SAY IT John Boyega is hot and I'm thankful for his hair transition in the later movies - especially in TROS he was HOT ASF.

@ lucasfilm I will fight you for what you've not done for Finn.

an unpopular opinion or, failing that, a fun fact

Snake: If this was an unpopular opinion about MG in general HO BOY WOULD I HAVE A MILLION. IDK what can be said about Snake that would be unpopular. I can't think of a fun fact either. ;_; so I'll widen the question (like i want snake to widen the gap between my legs ok ill see myself out) and say that I don't like how Snake was sidelined after MGS3 was hyped so hard and he became like a secondary character the BB and this is my villain origin story,

Finn: ok again. I don't think I have anything that would be unpopular opinion about Finn since I think we majorly agree that Finn was handled very badly. But I guess I can say one thing - I don't find the way he wants to be with Rey certainly A BAD THING. She was literally the first person after Poe who believed in Finn, and him tricking her made him feel awful about it. She was one of the reasons why he had changed his ways and I love their relationship, platonic or romantic. They are the best <3

music i associate with them (if any)

Snake: OK I HAVE SO MANY I've posted lots of Muse songs with MG characters already but I'll do it again ;)

Frou Frou - Let Go (I actually have a wip with this lol)

Family of the Year - Hero (Maybe too on the nose idc)

Muse - Map of the Problematique (OK BIASED bc this is one of my top top TOP muse songs ever. kinda snox vibes actually... the animations I have in my mind every time I listen to this. I always say to myself I'm going to make something with it and never do) Muse - The Handler (Writing this down too just because I've posted this before saying it fits Snake but I had just finished MG1 then and he was all I could think about, later I felt like it could also be Raiden's song. But. He fits Citizen Erased better.) Muse - Cave

Oasis - Part of the Queue

Imogen Heap - Headlock (in my otasune playlist...)

MFÖ - Mazeretim Var Asabiyim Ben

I probably have more and will be like "ah i should have added that one" but I can't think of anymore rn

Finn: Wish it was 2014-15 and I would have been in my peak SW era and give you a million songs. I can only give meme-y songs rn

Rober Hatemo - Sana Çinden Koşarım (he sings this to Rey)

Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive (and this to Kylo lmao)

if I feel (spiritually) like I could beat them in a fight

Snake: Just NO. LMAO. I think he would just laugh at me if I even tried to.

Finn: Before TFA? Maybe. He was only a sanitation worker. But I wouldn't want to 🥺

[alegacyofmonsters]

the Josie is problematic list please please PLEASE I'm begging🙏🏾

Here you go!

Read before you read the list:

1. Nothing said here has anything to do with ships. Don’t bring it up. 

2. I will be very clear when something is opinion. Unless clearly stated otherwise, these are facts from canon. 

3. It’s hard to say how much is “bad writing” and how much is the character, so I will be holding Josie exactly as she is written.

4. Other TVDU characters’ bad actions don’t excuse Josie’s. Don’t bring it up to justify her actions.

5. Josie doing some good things doesn’t make all the bad things she does okay.

6. You can still like Josie as a character. All I’m saying is that she’s not a good person right now and these are the reasons why people don’t like her. 

It’s also worth pointing out that, yes, Josie is capable of doing nice or selfless things when she wants to. But it’s also very important to pay attention to the people she’s most nice to (Penelope, Landon, Finch … see a pattern?) and the people she’s most often not to (Lizzie, Hope, Alaric). Acting nicely towards people she’s romantically interested in or wants something from neither negates the problem with her nor makes her a nice person. It only proves she can be kind when she needs to be or when it benefits her. 

Also, disclaimer: This is only updated through 3x15. I’ll probably get around to updating it midway through S4 or when something really big happens. Same thing with Hope and Lizzie’s lists; they’re not up to date.

1x01

“Cleanup on Aisle L”

There’s no reason for Josie to be making jokes about her sister’s episodes when she knows how much Lizzie struggles with them.

Lighting Penelope on fire

Exes or not, making out with MG or not, lighting your drunk ex on fire isn’t cool.

1x02

Josie bystanding Dana’s (and everyone else’s as a common theme) comments about Lizzie

I understand Josie not saying anything to Dana’s face, but even just a little, “Hey, your meds don’t make it okay to bully you,” would’ve comforted Lizzie or Josie not acting like it was Lizzie’s fault would’ve been better.

“You really want Dad to stop loving us? Keep it up.”

Textbook manipulation. Josie takes one of Lizzie’s biggest fears (perpetuated by Josie in the first place, but that comes later) and uses it to convince Lizzie to do what Josie wants above what everyone else wanted.

1x03

Poking at Hope about her and Lizzie

Yelling at her dad for saving Hope

At first glance, it’s a harmless scene but after we find out that Josie manufactured the entire rivalry between Hope and Lizzie it becomes much more malicious.

"MG has the impulse control of a preschooler."

More making fun of/blaming people for their mental illness.

I understand Josie being upset about her dad almost dying, but saying it in front of Hope, who has already struggled with suicidal tendencies, that she’d rather have her die than be saved was a low move.

1x05

Gets upset that Lizzie isn’t a mind reader

Josie never once indicated that she was remotely interested in the position - in fact, she went out of her way to make it seem like she didn’t, and then she holds it above Lizzie’s head to make her sister seem selfish.

1x06

“You’re the reason I got buried alive.”

When Lizzie wasn’t on hand to blame, Josie tried to guilt-trip Penelope for her getting buried alive when Josie was the one who broke the rules to let her mother out in the first place.

1x10

(Yes, this was an AU episode, but honestly nothing Josie does here is any different than what she does in the real world.)

“Try to keep it together today.”

Just blatant ableism - it’s not like Lizzie chooses to be mentally ill or have bad days.

“Someone’s clearly having an off day.”

More ableist jokes.

Laughing at Dana’s meds joke

Again, blatant ableism.

“Every time things are going well for me, you have an episode and ruin everything just to steal the spotlight.”

Did someone order more ableism? I didn’t.

“Honestly, Lizzie, if I believed every paranoid delusion that came out of your mouth, I’d be just as crazy as you.”

Ableism with a side of gaslighting this time.

“I have spent my entire life trying to make you feel better about yourself.”

I know this is an AU and we don’t have the history, but Josie carries the same sentiment in the universe we do know while we clearly see that’s not the case, so it’s very likely the same thing applies here.

“Watched Dad try to kill himself doing it too. Why do you think he drinks all the time?” 

I shouldn’t have to say this, but blaming a parent’s addiction on the child (an addiction that started some good twenty years before said child was even conceived) is straight up abusive.

“I am done making excuses for you. I am done worrying about when you are going to snap. And I am done letting you control my happiness.”

1. Same as two points ago. 2. Again with the ableism as if Lizzie can control when she has manic or depressive episodes. 3. Nobody controls Josie’s happiness except Josie, in the real world and the AU world. It’s not fair to say it’s Lizzie’s responsibility to make Josie happy.

1x11

People’s efforts never being enough for Josie

Josie hints at what she wants, the entire witch faction bends over backwards to make it happen, and Josie (spoiler alert) miraculously still ends up as the victim at the end of the episode.

“You’re a terrible sister.”

Lizzie is no more terrible than Josie is, and to have Josie say this after Lizzie spent the entire episode going out of her way to get Josie what she wanted is honestly awful.

1x12

“I didn’t just lie. I started the fire.”

Josie not only told the entire school about her sister’s first episode, then she blamed Hope with the sole intent of driving Lizzie and Hope apart. She arguably ruined Lizzie’s school/social life and then shifted the blame to someone else. Then Josie proceeds to pretend like Hope and Lizzie are the problem the entire episode until she’s forced to confess where she neither apologizes for lying, for spreading the rumors, nor for starting the fire. 

1x14

Josie is jealous that Lizzie chose Hope

Josie really had the audacity to be upset that Lizzie chose Hope as her replacement in an attempt to turn over a new leaf after Josie’s manipulation came to light.

Ignoring Penelope and then playing victim to Lizzie

All episode, Penelope told Josie she should try to win and offered to help. Josie said on four or five separate occasions that she didn’t want to win and refused Penelope’s help over and over. She even said falling down was her idea to try and win back Lizzie after she hurt her. Yet somehow, miraculously, came out as the victim in the end.

Blames Lizzie for letting Hope wear the dress

I don’t know how Lizzie was supposed to know Klaus gave Caroline the dress or why - if it was really such a big deal to Josie - she didn’t say anything sooner and instead waiting until she wanted to wear the dress and Hope could hear.

Is upset at Lizzie for Penelope leaving

Penelope tried for four episodes to get Josie to listen, and Josie refused to hear her. Then, Josie blames both Lizzie and Penelope for not telling her sooner despite her actively ignoring it.

1x15

“This isn’t about needing space. This is about every waking moment of my life being suffocated by you.”

Other than Lizzie’s obvious need for a little extra help from their parents, when has Lizzie suffocated her life? An episode ago, Lizzie wasn’t there enough. Which is it?

“Then you should stay away.”

You know what’s suffocating? The ableism coming from this girl. Why does she think mentally ill people don’t deserve a support system or help when they’re struggling? If Lizzie really is as suicidal and struggling with self harm as Josie says, why would she want her sister to crash alone and potentially hurt herself or worse?

“She did this to herself.”

Oh, that’s right. Because she thinks mental illness is a choice. Do I even need to say “ableism” again?

“She can choose to take her medication. She hasn’t taken it since we went to go see our mom because she doesn’t like the way that it makes her feel.”

I have a hard time believing that Josie Saltzman, who grew up with a sister who took a variety of different meds and supposedly spends every waking moment of her life with her, could “accidentally” be so tone deaf. There is a long list of completely valid reasons why someone would want to stop taking the meds, and the meds making someone worse is one of them (think about how many more violent episodes Lizzie was having from 1x01-1x10 that stopped when she stopped taking the meds). So why does Josie think Lizzie has to suffer bad meds in order to be more convenient for her?

“Letting her crash is the only way anything will ever change.”

Considering that Josie knows well enough to blab about the fact that Lizzie self harms and thinks she is a danger to herself and others when she’s crashing, this is very obviously not true. In fact, what it is - you guessed it - is ableist. 

“All I’ve ever done is worry about you.”

That’s a weird way to pronounce “complain.”

“I’ll come back for the part where you beg me to forgive you.”

Why does she have to forgive Lizzie for saying that codependency takes two people?

1x16

“Like clockwork - victim.”

The hypocrisy is so strong in this one I don’t even think I have to point it out.

“You are unbelievably selfish.”

Lizzie wanting to die with a reason isn’t all that selfish, especially when she’s already been known to be suicidal and someone has been bullying her over the same mental illness for the last week.

2x01

“My sister is the queen of self-harm.”

Lizzie’s self-harm is both not a joke nor Josie’s information to be giving out to anyone. It’s definitely not a brag. 

“I gave up my summer with Mom to make sure you wouldn’t be alone.”

Everybody in the Saltzman family was asking Josie to go to Europe. She refused every time, and then blames someone else for her own decision. 

2x02

Josie making Flirty Witch’s nose bleed for doodling Landon

Josie and Landon weren’t a thing and hadn’t even gone on a first date yet, and Josie is using magic to harm a teenage girl for having a crush.

“I’m always the caretaker.”

Nope. Just nope on this one. Gaslighting is a no.

2x03

The way she treated Hope at the beginning of the match

Josie didn’t even know her, and even if she suspected Landon of cheating on her with Hope, why would she be upset with Hope and not with Landon?

“You bury little Miss Milkshake.”

Her aggression towards Hope is just unjustified and cruel. Again, she suspects Landon of cheating? Why is she only trying to hurt the girl who would have no idea she existed? Why is she encouraging violence anyway?

“You have a problem hitting her or something?”

Maybe some people care about other human beings, Josie.

“Why are you taking her side?”

Read above.

Breaking Ethan’s arm

Joise knew the spell would do something bad. She’s well-versed enough in magic to know, and plenty intelligent enough not to use a spell she doesn’t know. Even after she snaps his arm, she makes no attempts to right what she’s done.

“I hurt someone. I wanted to.”

I think this one speaks for itself. 

2x04

“That’s Japenese for ‘What the hell is she doing here?’”

Again with the bullying of someone who’s not the person who supposedly did her wrong?

In fact, the entire way Josie treated Hope this episode. I’m not going to list them all. My fingers would fall off.

“Guess she’s not the only one who gets to save your life today. So you’re welcome.”

Why does Josie demand thanks when she gives none when she’s saved? 

“You gave me that black magic spell and because of it, I broke that kid’s arm.”

Yeah and if I hand someone a bullet on the street and they load their gun and shoot someone, I’m not the only one at fault here. Take some accountability. 

2x05

Using Lizzie’s reputation (that Josie manufactured) as a threat, even light-heartedly

Josie uses Lizzie’s name when Josie’s the one who wants things done perfectly, hiding behind her sister again to be liked

Josie skipped plans with her father

Not a crime on its own obviously, but when she later blames him for not making time for her, it becomes hypocritical

Josie is forced to confess that she voted out her father

Same as above. Perfectly fine on its own. Horrible when she demands sympathy for it later.

2x06

Josie spying on Lizzie with Penelope’s journal

I’ll let Freya take this one: “Magic and privacy don’t mix well.”

Knocked Freya out when she called Josie out for not wanting to use the spell

I think this one’s easy but attacking people is not nice.

“I needed a push to do the right thing.”

Josie was going to let the people closest to her actively suffer for her own convenience. And when she finally did, all she was worried about was how it would affect her and her relationship.

“At least this one’s got a hot guy guest star.”

More poking fun at Lizzie’s mental illness and struggles. 

2x07

“He’s not the only friend keeping secrets.”

How is Josie both going to not bring back the memories of Hope and be mad that Hope didn’t make her remember?

Ignores Lizzie when she asks her again not to do back magic

Again, not entirely awful by itself (although a little because Josie knows it also affects Lizzie physically) but when she later tells Lizzie she’s selfish for not noticing she was using black magic, it becomes hypocritical

“Cut to the chase. Who are you gonna choose?”

Josie didn’t even go to the actual Landon to talk to him. She tried to go around him and use magic to get answers he didn’t have.

“So SimuLandon is running around telling everyone he loves Hope. I guess I’m just second-rate.”

Josie’s the one who made him and wanted answers out of him, but now she’s jealous that he - not even the real Landon - has no filter? 

In general, the whole way Josie was so unreceptive to Hope’s reconciliation

For someone who supposedly was friends with Hope and remembered everything before Malivore, Josie treated her pretty awfully when Hope was scared to come back to school

2x09

“I thought they were okay, but it’s just bad again.”

Josie treated Hope awfully when she decided to come back and for no reason other than Landon got his memories back. She dragged Hope around emotionally and lied to her instead of just saying how she felt to start with. 

Josie stealing from her father

Once again, not bad on its own. Just when she later tries to guilt him for not noticing how bad she was doing when she was purposely sneaking behind his back for the exact reason that he wouldn’t know.

“Getting rid of magical evidence before my dad overreacts.”

See above. And why does Josie think she knows better than every adult around her?

“I don’t want to be powerful.”

I mean … that’s just a straight up lie at this point. She’s shown over and over again that powerful and strong is all she wants to be no matter who she hurts, but as soon as it has consequences, she throws her hands up and pretends like it wasn’t what she was after in the first place.

“I get upset more easily. I’m on edge. Jealous.” “It’s not all the magic.”

Not so much a problem point, just pointing out that Josie’s issues can’t be pinned on black magic.

2x10

“Maybe I deserve the magic to just boomerang back to me.”

Once again, as soon as Josie faces consequences, she throws her hands up and demands sympathy for her own actions even when everyone else is already trying to help her.

“Distract you from what?”

This is one of those not-a-problem-on-its-own ones again. Josie is just as, if not more, clueless about Lizzie’s suffering than she is of hers, yet Josie always says she’s the one taking care of Lizzie and that Lizzie never pays attention to her. At least Lizzie is vocal about her struggles.

2x12

(Now this is when Dark!Josie comes in, so I’ll start by clarifying that 1. Dark!Josie is Josie. She’s not being possessed by a separate entity or being controlled by someone else. All the characters have said she's doing the things Josie has always wanted to do and the actors, writers, and producers have all said Dark!Josie and Josie are the same person and 2. I personally don’t hold Josie as accountable for Dark!Josie things as I do for her previous horribleness, but that doesn’t mean other people can’t since, again, they are the same person.)

Ties up her father in the prison world where five people want to kill him

Do I really need to give an explanation for that one? I just … that was low. Even for Josie.

2x13

Josie shows no concern for her dying twin.

Yeah, yeah, “Dark!Josie” but dark magic doesn’t make you emotionless. It’s not a humanity switch. Look at literally any other witch who used black magic (and to much larger proportions than Josie’s two spells too)

“I’m back.”

Are you telling me that Lizzie was supposed to sense the dark magic in Josie when Josie couldn’t even sense it in herself? Or was it just a flatout lie?

2x14

Josie in the simulation box

I shouldn’t have to tell you by now that torturing and murdering people is wrong. Yes, it was a simulation. Yes, she had dark magic. No, I will not list everything she did in the box.

“You’re full of black magic. I was too selfish to see it before.”

Josie has Lizzie so convinced that not being a mind reader and that having her own life (that Josie demanded) makes her a bad person. And again, Josie couldn’t even feel the black magic? How could Lizzie?

2x15

Tries to kill MG

Murder bad.

Kills Alyssa.

Murder bad.

Tries to kill Hope.

Murder still bad.

Kills Lizzie.

Murder still bad.

“One less mouth to feed.”

Joking about murder bad. 

2x16

Josie’s sexist and rude comments towards Hope.

I will not list them all. Sure, she “didn’t want Hope to know it was her.” So speak in a British accent or something? Why is sexism your go-to disguise? For that matter, why is ableism your go-to insults in the real world?

Doesn’t tell anyone she turned Hope to stone in her mind

Sure, nothing came out of it. But when Hope was unconscious and not waking up, Josie didn’t think to mention what she had done? She just put her magic away and pretended like it didn’t involve her?

3x01

Plays the victim card when Alyssa (rightfully!) calls her out for murdering her.

I think we can all agree that Alyssa had a very good point here.

Doesn’t tell Lizzie she put her magic away until she can use it to manipulate

Josie had plenty of opportunities to tell Lizzie (before or during field day) that she didn’t have her magic. Instead, she waited until she could throw it back in Lizzie’s face publicly, place the victim, and guilt her sister again. It’s becoming a pattern.

“All your trying, it doesn’t change anything. You’re making everything worse like you used to.”

The entire fandom cringed during that line. Every last one. She just waved her hypocrisy and narcissism like a giant flag. I don’t know why I thought Season 3 Josie would magically treat Lizzie like a human being, but consider me disappointed. 

“This is exactly what you wanted. It’s what you’ve been trying to make me do all day.”

Josie really just gave up on subtle hypocrisy this episode huh. Really just wants to blame Lizzie for everything again huh.

“She thinks that I should be the focus for a change.”

Is it possible to literally explode from too much hypocrisy? Because that what it felt like every time Josie opened her mouth this episode. It physically hurt.

“I know that all you’ve been trying to do lately is help me.”

So … she does know? Because a literal episode ago, she was saying nobody tries to help her. 

3x03

“She can’t decide what she wants, and when she finally does decide, she makes a super selfish choice.

We all heard how disgusted Josie was when a mirror was held to her face. The hypocrisy is literally killing me slowly.

“You gave up on Hope, like, twice.”

Didn’t you want her to die, like, twice and didn’t want to bring back memories of her in Season 2? Starts with “H” and ends with “Y”.

“At first I thought she was selfish, but she was just being honest about how she’s changed.”

Glad Elena changed. You still didn’t. Josie literally went through all of Season 2’s mess and came out the same person she was at the beginning of Season 1. No growth, no improvement, nothing. Just a bigger ego.

3x04

“If you can forgive me for that one time I killed you?”

How hard would it have been to actually say the words “I’m sorry” to the girl who murdered instead of skirting around the apology and immediately demanding forgiveness.

3x05

“You’re in a good mood. What’s wrong?”

Even if it were light-hearted, saying something like this to someone who literally struggles with manic and depressive states out of their control is beyond shitty.

“My sister took the news about me wanting to transfer about as well as you did Maya leaving.”

I don’t have to say it, but I will. Not nice to lie about your siblings, especially when Finch’s (unexplained) reaction resulted in suspension and Lizzie just didn’t give her full support.

3x09

“Please. The LARPers and comic book geeks sit over there. It’s probably more your speed.”

Telling people who they can and can’t be friends with is very school bully-ish.

“Knock it off. No vamp powers.” / “We need to keep it that way or my dad is going to yank us out of this school.”

Expecting MG to be able to just turn his hearing off and then threatening him with a consequence Josie knows isn’t real is a no. A hard no.

Josie wanting Ethan compelled for her own convenience

MG says it best: “No offense, Jo, but what are you really worried about risking?”

“I do know that, Dad.”

Another not-a-point, just important to note for when she uses Alaric “not loving” her or Lizzie for sympathy and manipulation

Josie asking Lizzie to spy on Finch with magic

I’ll use Freya’s words again here: “Magic and privacy don’t mix.” 

3x11

Having to fight with herself to care enough to save someone’s life

Because that’s what the whole Dark!Josie/Josie scene was. It wasn’t some separate entity sitting there. It wasn’t another person. It was Josie’s subconscious projected into a hologram. That was Josie’s internal monologue brought to the screen, no magic involved, having to try that hard to convince herself to help save Hope’s life. 

3x12

“Bringing the Necromancer to the surface sounds like something we’d live to regret.” / “Why are you making me do this?” “Short answer? We used to be black magic frenemies.”

Telling her father he shouldn’t try to bring back the Necromancer only to try to do it herself the second he walked out the door was suspicious at best, not to mention hypocritical. How many people died last time?

3x13

Ignoring Finch’s reluctance to come to SBS and not listening when Finch told her why their situations weren’t the same

She did come around by the end of the episode beautifully and realized what Finch was saying, but it still happened and it still shows her trying to control the people around her.

3x14

“Lizzie went on this witch-y wellness retreat, but I haven’t heard from her in over a week. I think that she might be in trouble.”

Blatant manipulation. Not a new thing, but at least this time might’ve been with good intentions.

Not noticing anything was wrong with Lizzie despite being in contact with her

I wouldn’t normally make this a point, but since Josie complains that Lizzie and Alaric didn’t notice anything wrong with her under black magic, it makes her hypocritical to see nothing wrong when she does it to someone else.

“You’re the one that indoctrinated us into a freaking cult.”

It was Josie’s idea to visit, Josie was the reason Lizzie was there in the first place, she lied to get Hope there, didn’t want to leave when Hope did, didn’t want to leave when Lizzie did, but somehow it’s all Lizzie’s fault that they were in this mess? I think not. And of course, no apology, but on the bright side, some awareness that this is her “normal.”

“All I’ve ever wanted for you is happiness.”

A bold-faced lie edging into gaslighting at this point. Somehow the last decade of how she treated Hope didn’t happen for her.

3x15

“You’re a princess.” / “Why am I not a princess?!” / “You get to be the princess.”

The one time Josie wasn’t the princess (in someone else’s fanfic, mind you), it’s endless complaining and guilting. 

Reading Lizzie’s diary and then blaming it on Lizzie’s MI

Yes, Josie was eleven when she read the diary. She was seventeen when she decided to blame Lizzie’s MI, not apologize for it, and then play victim in all of it. Ableism bad. Lying bad. Manipulating bad. 

Josie reading Lizzie’s diary to the other witches and laughing about it

Even at eleven years old, you know not to bully people about their MI’s. 

[breezeinmonochromenight]

I have some questions please. Do you feel there is queerbaiting in video games? I’ve heard of this happening in television shows but I’ve always been curious if it’s ever been found in games?

If so, do you know of any specific video games where you’ve seen or read about this happening? May I ask what are your thoughts on queerbaiting and do you think video game developers should or should not have this in there games? Thank you.

So like. Just so it’s out there: I only call something queerbaiting if it fits the actual definition: “a strategy by which the attention of queer viewers via hints, jokes, gestures, and symbolism suggesting a queer relationship between two characters, and then emphatically denying and laughing off the possibility”. While I think actual queerbaiting is fucking dumb, I don’t consider something like… a gay ship I like because they have good chemistry and the occasional dialogue that could be interpreted as flirty/romantic/etc. queerbaiting just because that ship doesn’t go on to become canon or whatever. Some people do and that shit’s fucking stupid too.

That being said, I personally can’t think of any particularly egregious examples in games that would be on par with like… whatever the fuck was going on with Supernatural off the top of my head, but yeah. I’m sure there’s probably some good examples and arguments to be made out there. Video games are still a medium with which to tell a story just like books or tv or movies — nothing makes their writing immune to queerbaiting.

I’ve personally had like… Snake and Otacon and BB and Kaz’s relationships brought up to me as examples of queerbaiting, but like. The former is simply never confirmed in game (but both VA’s have said they play those characters as if they’re in a relationship) and the latter can literally go on an optional date, among other things. But also like. If you’re playing something like fucking Metal Gear Solid of all things for the shipping and are unable to read between the lines — especially when there are already openly bisexual and gay characters/relationships — that’s on you tbh. Find a better way to consume media. Maybe try dating sims. Something.

Aside from MGS, though, I have seen arguments for queerbaiting in Persona 4 and Life is Strange in academic research papers, but I’ve yet to play any Persona game and have retained virtually nothing from the Life is Strange game(s?) I’ve played, so I can’t give you any kind of informed opinion there.

I think it gets even more complicated with video games because there is also an “your mileage may vary” aspect to them because of the interactivity — something other mediums don’t have. Like. Two people watching the same movie are ultimately getting the same information, but may interpret the interactions between two characters differently. Two people playing the same game could potentially lead to one of them seeing like… protagonist A’s relationship with party member/NPC B as queerbaiting, while the other didn’t even know party member/NPC B existed lol.

But yeah. Anyway. To be as transparent as possible in all of this, I should state that I’m generally not big on defining relationships (even irl) and actually prefer the ambiguity like 99% of the time with any ship I like — even m/f ones. Keeps me interested. So, admittedly, I don’t go poring over the games I play to find instances or queerbaiting. Tbh I find the overall hyperfocus on defining the sexual orientation of every character kind of fucking weird — like it’s a make-or-break personality trait in a character or something. Same goes their for relationships. You can’t normalize lgbtq+ characters in any media in the long run if you have to immediately put a spotlight on said character or their interactions with other characters because of it.

[pleasereadmeok]

This ‘Wonderland’ Interview to promote A Single Man is a gem.  Matthew Goode is a bit of a handful and swears his way through this interview with his mate Nic Hoult.  It’s very funny.  It’s often quoted (including his description of Colin Firth’s kissing technique!) but it’s difficult to find a clean scan of the whole interview.  This scan (from Natalie/ Fairchilds on ohnotheydidnt) isn’t very clear to read so I did a transcript several years ago - here:-

Wonderland Interview

Based on the 1964 novel by Christopher Isherwood, A Single Man marks the screenwriting and directing debut of fashion icon, Tom Ford.  Having debuted earlier this year at the Venice Film Festival to a standing ovation, the film has continued to impress audiences during screening at the Toronto and London Film Festivals.

Joining lead actor, Colin Firth, on screen are fellow Brits Matthew Goode and Nicholas Hoult who discuss the film, Tom Ford and being British in LA.

ON A SINGLE MAN

Nicholas Hoult: The only time I saw Matthew was when we were getting our spray tans.

Matthew Goode: Which were more regular than we were expecting.  I got on a plane with Colin [Firth] and then literally the moment we arrived, got in the car together, went to the hotel and suddenly – it’s like ten thirty at night – we have to go to Colin’s room where we’re having our spray tans .  Colin Firth is in his pants, I’m in my pants and it stays that way for an hour whilst we wait for this stuff to set.  He’s fucking great.  I love Colin.

We [Nic’ and he] never had a scene together but we were there the whole time.  I was only really fitting in around these guys.  Nic had a damn sight more to do than I did.

NH: No I just did more.

MG: [Laughs] It was a really fun shoot. I mean, maybe I’m looking back with rose tinted spectacles, but …

NH: It was a good fun shoot. Everyone enjoyed it.  I remember the night in Venice after seeing it in front of all those people and just lying in bed thinking ‘that’s something I’m proud of’.

MG: It’s seriously impressive. You watch it and you care and, it doesn’t happen to me a lot, but I watched it and thought ‘I’m in something that doesn’t stink!’.  I’m proud of that.

NH:  That’s a nice feeling when you’ve done something and you can say ‘yeah, proud of that’.

MG:  Fucking hell – sorry to interrupt – but I was reading a magazine or a paper or something the other day and it said “A Single Man obviously being screened and whenever Nic Hoult was on screen there were gasps over his beauty” [laughs]. And I was thinking, fucking Hoult is going to LA and get so laid! [Laughs]. He is going to be turning bush away left right and centre!

NH:  It’s all down to the fake tan again.  That’s where the performance stems for me.

MG:  That is a review!

NH:  Nothing about the acting, right?

MG:  They didn’t review the film.  It just said “I saw it.  I’m going to be reviewing it at some point, but let me tell you there were gasps over Nick Hoult’s beauty!”

ON TOM FORD

MG:  Tom is immediately interesting. If it’s all about someone’s cannon of work then most of the time you wouldn’t work with a first ime director, but if the script is good and you have a chat with them and they know which end is up and which is down, then great.

NH: I didn’t know who Tom was when I met him.

MG: Nick “fashion forward” Hoult!

NH:  I’d gone over to LA got off a plane and had dinner with him.  And I asked him how he’d got into directing and why he was doing this!

MG:  I love that.  Isn’t that great?  And that’s also like Tom.  He’s not the sort of person who is like, ‘well fuck you!’.

NH: He explained very humbly what he had done and I thought OK.  And then I looked him up after dinner and was ‘oh jesus!  He’s actually accomplished quite a lot’ so probably quite a stupid question, but he was very honest and modest and made a great director.

MG: It’s so good.  And so good for Colin.  And Julianne [Moore] is bloody great in it as well.  But the real star of it, it has to be said, is Tom. It silences immediately the people who were going ‘you self indulgent cunt.’  It’s like two massive fingers up to them as it is very, very accomplished.

NH:  It’s very personal to him as well.

MG:  Hugely personal as the main story sort of mirror images the relationship between him and Richard.  There’s a similar age gap.

NH:  He would always say my character is him when he was 18.  He’s connected to every character and he knows them.

MG:  And he wrote the screenplay and it’s starkly different from the book.

NH:  Matthew’s read the book, so –

MG:  That’s right!  I have. It is different.  I am always about the script, really.  But one of the really nice things about being involved is that it is a love poem to Tom’s partner, Richard.

NH:  Tom is very good in the sense that he is an actor’s director and knows what he wants you to do but is very giving to let you go off and explore things and try stuff out.  And you don’t feel too much pressure of failure.

MG:  That’s very true.

NH: ‘Cause the second you’re on set – especially when there’s only 20 days to shoot – to not feel the pressure, that’s a good atmosphere he created.  Something his assistant was saying the other day was that he’s very good at holding his hands up and would admit when he wasn’t sure what he was doing and kept everyone on side and made it a really great team effort.

MG:   I love it when someone’s like that.  It’s so far away from self indulgent as well when someone’s shooting into the 19th hour of the day and the ship isn’t sinking, but there’s a leak and it’s far better to say we do have a leak and I’m trying to sort it out rather than leaning on one side and saying everything is fine.  He is fucking great.

ON COLIN FIRTH

MG:  Colin was great.  I knew he was going to be good.  The moment I read the script, I was like, ‘this is something you haven’t done in a long time’ – just something he could really get his teeth into.   He’s such a subtle actor and it’s been a long time since I can remember him having something that central and serious.

NH:  It was a great moment when we went to the Venice Film Festival and got the message Colin was winning the best actor award.

MG:  I know.  The previous evening we had sat there and we knew it had gone down well because there was a NINE minute standing ovation.  And particularly when you’re not in the film as much as I am, then I feel like a fucking charlatan.  I stood there and am looking down and smiling and embarrassed.  Colin’s quite emotional and I tell you what – four minutes of a standing ovation gets a bit uncomfortable, but NINE?  ‘OK, Colin… fucking move. Let’s go. Let’s leave.’ And he couldn’t tell us that he had won and so he was being shy about it.

NH:  Yeah, he kept it very quiet.

MG:  The moment we found out and we were on the boat we were like ‘What the fuck?  You’ve won and you didn’t tell us!?  And he was like ‘ I know, I didn’t wanna.’  He was humble.

NH:  It was great.  It was a bit of an odd first day like you had in the sense that I had to strip off in front of Colin on my first day.  It sounds a bit seedy when I say ‘strip off in front of him’.

MG:  It does!

NH:  It’s part of the film, I swear!  And it’s handled a lot more tastefully that that might seem, but yeah it was a bit of an odd first day.

MG:  Everyone is going to say ‘oh it’s a gay movie’ which we then counteract with ‘no it’s not, it’s a film about love.’  But there is nudity and a bit of man kissing.  Frankly Colin kisses like a nymphomaniac on death row, but it was a real pleasure!

NH:  He’s got a lot of love!

ON JULIANNE MOORE

MG:  She’s a fucking hero.  She’s lovely. I didn’t have any scenes with her. I mean I’m only in flashback, so all my stuff was with Colin.

NH:  All my stuff is with Colin as well.   The first time I met Julianne was in Venice.

MG:  Yeah, she was probably in the middle of juggling six projects or something, you know, she never stops working.  She came in and shot two scenes, which were about 20 odd minutes of the film, and they did that in two evenings so she was in and out.  I never got a chance to meet her until I was at some party in LA and she is just fantastic.  And she’s married to a guy called Bart Freadlich who is a director in his own right.

NH:  He’s a hero.

MG:  He is actually fabulous!  My girlfriend spent the whole evening calling him Bert instead of Bart and he was like ‘you know, actually I prefer Bert!  Don’t worry about it’.  He’s lovely. They could throw their weight around, but they are actually family people and live in New York – they’re kind of anti Hollywood.

ON THE LIFE OF AN ACTOR

MG: There are a lot of Brits and Aussies at the moment who are working.  I don’t know what that means.  But we never think of ourselves.  When you get off the plane and you’re in America they ask ‘what’s the best thing about being a movie star?’ I am a jobbing actor, they have no idea! They make it sound like I get 500 scripts and am sitting there going through them all. If something comes up and they are stupid enough to give it to us or you love the script and audition but someone of a huge stature can come in and take it like Brad Pitt. Or Judi [Dench] – we’ve been up against each other a couple of times.

NH: I’ve never lost out to Judi yet.

MG: Only in a drinking contest! The vicious alcoholic that she is!

NH: Sam Worthington was telling me when he was in LA someone asked him why there were so many Aussies over there doing so well and his response was that it’s an awful long way to go to fail and not give it your best shot, basically.

MG: Oh. I was expecting some sort of knob gag in there, but yeah.

NH: It’s very true. I just got back from LA and every TV series has an English guy in the lead. Joseph Fiennes, Matthew Reece [RHYS]

MG: We’re good. We’re quite good…

N H: I can’t say it’s the training, because I don’t have any.

MG: You’re doing well! You make people gasp! You complete cunt. I hate that!

NH: You’re coming across very eloquent.

MG: That’s very nice of you.  OK, who used to live with Ewan McGregor and Jude Law and he has a TV show? You’re right about that. Though it makes it sound like ‘Oh you’re English.  Have a TV show’.  I’m sure they all have about ten auditions.

NH: I had an interesting day recently when I was at a BBQ and Jimmy Page and Roger Daltrey were there.

MG: Wow!

NH: I sat there and was very quiet because I thought if I speak to them I’ll make a fool of myself so it’s best to keep out of the way and then they can’t have any bad thoughts although they probably didn’t know I was there.  But I knew they were there so it was a good BBQ for me.

MG: I’d love to learn guitar. It’s one of those things I’d love to do. Though it’s not like I don’t have the time…

NH: [Laughs]

MG: I’d like to know all the chords.

NH: It’s difficult to get the fingering right… That’s what she said.

MG: And back to Dame Judi!

NH: [Laughs]

MG: It depends if you have a high action or a low action in terms of the strings.  It hurts. You’ve got to build up the calluses. If you get a low action one that would be easier.

NH:  Are we still talking about women?

MG:  Yes! [Laughs] I remember Billy Crudup got the part in Almost Famous and he had lessons with Peter Frampton but had to have lessons on the side because Peter was like ‘you are fucking terrible’. But that’s one of the nice accidents of the job is you can get training in things. And random travel.

NH: I got to do archery.

MG: You did! That was The Weatherman!

NH: No, for Clash of the Titans. I didn’t use it once.

MG: Oh yes, it was the daughter in The Weatherman.

NH: Yeah man, keep up.

MG: Sorry mate. That’s how pretty you are. I confused you with the female lead.

NH: He’s seen all my work.

MG: I have! I’ve got to learn how to do it. You are a master.  I did a Spanish film and it was all in Spanish [!] – I learnt it phonetically. Jesus, that’s my only skill.  The major skill I picked up is I can pay my rent. The older you get the more you realize there are a lot of people who hate their jobs.  I’m so glad I’m not – ha!  Famous last words! – it does seem to be going OK for now.  But bringing it back to what do you like about acting – to be honest, everything.

ON BRITISH TALENT

MG:  I think there is an element that we’re just so happy to work.  Certainly as for getting into film it was such an accident because I hadn’t worked in front of a camera.  For a while it was like what is the secret code to working on screen?  I have no idea what it is… but even ten films in I’m still sitting here renting and not owning a house.  I think that keeps you grounded.  As opposed to some American actors who are on a hundred thousand dollars doing some TV.

NH:  You don’t get comfortable so you feel you’ve got to keep on striving.

MG: I think we’re overrated. [Laughs].  There is an element over there if you walk into a room of Americans that they’re suddenly like ‘oh fuck they’re British and we’re steeped in tradition.

NH:  It’s odd that Tom got so many English actors for the film – we’re both playing American.

MG:  And Julianne is playing English.

NH:  it’s good he trusts in us to pull of the American accents.

MG:  Yeah, I mean – idiot!  In fairness you’ve done it before and I have done it a couple of times.  But it is odd.   If you think who he probably could have had –

NH:  He probably could have done better than us!

MG:  I’m sure he could have convinced someone with a much higher stature.  I think it was just we were willing to work for free, effectively.  And that’s also what makes Britain great.  We want to work and we want to please the director and often at times, yes we might have strong thoughts on character and script, but we turn up and are like, this is your vision and you are the director and we know where we fit in. Certainly the Brits, I find, we want to be told what to do or how it’s going to work rather than, ‘I’m the fucking star!’ I tend to find we leave our ego at the door. We tend not to pussyfoot around. We all like a drink. We’re steeped in that tradition as well. There’s a certain forbidden thing in America if you drink you’re an alcoholic. No I’m not, and I generally wait until at least half past one.

NH: On weekends. Weekdays, 11.

MG: There is a reason pubs are opened at 11 and it’s because you are allowed to start drinking at that time. Otherwise, they wouldn’t do it! Christ, can you remember back to when – you might not remember, actually. I gasp at your beauty as I try to remember!

NH:[laughs] I’m never going to live this down!

MG:Do you remember when pubs shut on Sundays at, like, 1 for two or three hours? Maybe I’m showing my age now. That is fucking madness. There would be a riot now.

NH:  So basically, we haven’t found a conclusion to what makes Britain great…  You’re a big X Factor fan though, aren’t you?

MG:  My girlfriend loves it.  She’s got me into it.  I mean it’s fucking hilarious.  You literally sit there and you don’t know any of these people but the music comes up and they get selected and you can be in tears and so happy that these people have been selected for the live shows.  I really like the over 25’s this year.  They’re fucking great.

NH:  Matthew Goode on The X Factor!

MG:  ‘He’s very much into the over 25s and what is funny is they are all male’.  But it is great.  But then it’s such a machine.  There is such a turn around.  Sometimes the winner gets completely forgotten and they have no career and then, obviously, sometimes they go shooting up.  But it is great telly!  Saturday night, a couple of beers and The X Factor.

[Pics - My edit of Ben Rayner photos/scan by Natalie Fairchild.] 

[minisoysquares]

As fun as the events and ideas you posted about 19days would be, wouldn’t it also just bring in more negative stuff - like fandom in general has become a field of land mines and I fear that something that’s supposed to fun will turn into some sort of battle. Like how some people get extremely heated over any other ships outside of their fave ship and they cannot possibly have other ships except theirs, etc. The last thing anyone wants is for content creators to be targeted simply for making something they thought would be fun

(This ask and answer is about this post.)

First of all thank you so much for addressing such a big and valid concern. I agree that that has indeed happened in certain fandoms - I can say I've been in the thick of it and witnessed quite the warfare - but in others it has also brought fans and readers and content creators together even closer and tighter in a wonderful thriving community.

I have the feeling this'll get quite long so please proceed under the cut with that in mind.

I believe all things are potential harbingers of both discord and harmony. There will always be people who feel entitled and who want - even demand! the audacity! - authors and artists to create for their ships and their ships alone. And there will also always be people who can appreciate the writing and the art without judgemental treatment regarding the pairings/characters depicted, no matter their preferences.

All of that happens and will continue to happen, whether we go forward with these events or not. And yet authors will still write what they want to write, artists will still draw what they want to draw, graphic designers will still make the edits they want to make as well. What we could do, in this small and close knit fandom, is take in our hands this powerful rich opportunity and try our best to make a model of positivity out of it.

In these events, there would be no bashing or shaming allowed. The content created would be to be enjoyed by those who are attracted to it, and those who do not have a taste for that fanwork in particular would be asked to remain respectful. (As it should always be.) There would be no ship wars in these spaces. Discourse, hate-speech or anti-behaviour would not be tolerated by the moderators of the event.

Creators who indulged in it would be immediately disqualified. Any unnecessary commentary or complaints from the audience would be deleted and reported as spam. Anyone instigating conflict would be only painting a target on their back, really. Because most of us - I dare say - are only here to appreciate the brilliant artwork and fanfiction woven and crafted by the talented people who share it with us.

If it came to it and it escalated, this hellsite has several tools that can be put to use to that regard. Accounts could be blocked and/or even reported. They wouldn't be able to interact with the blogs created to run these events from then on. We would be able to create a black list and post it publicly so everyone else who wished to could simply block those unruly pesky accounts and remain at peace and free to enjoy themselves to their utmost.

Let us not forget that this is all fiction and it's all for fun. Everyone's allowed to have their own opinion, likes and dislikes. There simply is no need to step on anyone else and their interests to elevate them.

Let's exemplify, for the sake of clarity:

Do I personally ship A with B? Imagine I do not. I do not search for it. If I come across it? I scroll past it. Once or twice, I may even like - and even reblog - if it happens to catch my attention and it's well written/drawn! (I have tags along the lines of 'I don't ship it but' and 'look at this beautiful art' or 'drown in the power of these words.')

It's so easy to interact amongst ourselves without coming with pitchforks at one another. Know what actually needs effort? Being a meanie and a party popper! Who in their right mind wastes their time on things they don't care for? Dum dums, that's who! Of course, we're all dummies at times... and that's okay! Let's just not harass people or crash their fun while we're at it!

If nothing else: you wouldn't like if others did this or that to you, therefore don't do it to others. It's a simple concept to grasp.

Very important: in these events, every single piece would be explicitly and properly tagged and warned for right at the very top of each post, so there would be absolutely no excuses for anyone being nasty.

We would just have to be open to the experience. Enjoy our ships and let other enjoy theirs. We do not have to all like the same thing. That would be just boring. But we can cohabitate devoid of trouble in fandom. Each one of us just has to be respectful. No need to even be nice. No one has to compliment something they don't like. They also don't have to step on what others do.

Don't like a ship/character/theme? Don't read stories focused on it. Don't put down authors who write it or readers who enjoy it. Same for art. No need to shout about how awful it is just for the simple reason that it does not fit into your personal shipping preferences. It can still be still be a tasty and wonderfully baked cake, it's just that you're not fond of vanilla or strawberries. It's okay. There are all kinds of cake for everyone's tastes!

Further examples: If a ship happens to be a NOTP for me or I don't care for the character(s)? I filter the tags. All of them. Any and every tag I can think of. It's very easy to protect ourselves on Tumblr from content we do not wish to see. (My own list is huge and just as effective.) Filtering is incredibly important.

So go ahead and filter out the ships you can do without! Filter out porte-manteaux like Tianshan, Zhanyi, Qiucheng, Tianxi, Tianyi, Lishan, Litian, Liyi, Shantou, Polydays, (...) Filter out any ship tag that doesn't strike your fancy like Q x MGS, HC x JY's mom, (...) Filter out characters that aren't your cuppa tea like HT, HT's dad, SL, JY's mom, XH, (...)

Make it safe for yourself and for others. That way you won't rage at the sight of your NOTP, won't feel the compulsive need to trash the people who ship it, no one is hurt and everyone is happy!

There are many steps we could follow to prevent rotten eggs in our coop. And many more actions we could take to throw them out if need be. I firmly believe, however, that if we're all of the same mind everything would go well and with very few bumps along the way.

If we only ever feared the possible negative consequences of our actions, never taking the risk for the possible positive ones, we'd never get anything done. I say let's not let our beloved fandom stagnate or dry out. Let's incentivate and motivate and inspire! Let's share! Let's have fun!

Think of it in these terms: it wouldn't be a competition at all but rather a charity event. Performers and spectators coming together for a common good, raising content and spreading joy! There would be no winners or losers or prizes. What would matter would be good old-fashioned participation, both by providing content and/or consuming it.

It could also a good way to get people to express themselves more. Many content consumers tend to lurk or keep to themselves even if they like the content posts. (I used to be one myself and only a couple months ago started to come out of my shell.) I myself advocate for reblogging instead of liking - if you have to choose one or the other, I mean, why not do both? - and leaving a word on every single post I like and/or reblog. Sometimes I go nuts commenting, sometimes I leave a small note in the tags.

It doesn't matter how. Even if you're shy or introverted (*raises hand*) or don't know what to say I guarantee a single emoticon or a string of disordered letters symbolising incoherence will make the creator's day all the same. Getting feedback is so important and motivational for creators and also a great way for fandom members to keep in touch and support each other.

Additionally, if a person would like more of a certain type of content here are some healthy actions they could take: a) commission a creator and pay for it if they can; b) politely make a suggestion to a creator with an open ask box; c) post a prompt publicly for possible interested creators to use; d) do it yourself and share it with others!

This turned out into more of a "behavioural guidelines" thing than I'd have liked. I am not in any way whatsoever telling anyone what to do. This is what I do, and it works wonders for me. I stay completely out of toxic arguments and in on all the goodies. I'm able to fully enjoy my fandoms. And isn't that what we all want?

Thank you again for sharing your thoughts with me. And I apologise for the long rant!

Of course, this is only my personal stance on the issue. I did go for a survey first exactly for this end, to get their opinions on the subject and see if it would be worth a shot. I shall hope many other people will think as I do, but I will wholly respect those who don't.

[lexa-kom-skaikru]

Things have to be said about the Legacies Musical episode...

When this episode was announced as a tribute to TVD and TO’s music, I was super excited but, as soon as they came out saying it was actually gonna be a musical about TVD and TO, I had a feeling it was gonna be a shit show.

I am happy to report that it was actually better than I thought, although it had quite a few misses for me - but let’s start with the good.

Fair warning, this post is Anti-Handon

One of the things I liked about this episode was the Monster of the Week. I am honestly done with the format of a new monster every episode but at least this one was refreshing and it had me guessing his true intentions all through the episode. He was charismatic, funny and just interesting to watch. Plus, his initial sequence with MG was one of the funniest the show has ever done lol 

He did break Josie’s arm and for that he will never forgiven but at the same time he gave Hope some very much needed comfort and he got bonus points for that.

Another positive was Caroline’s ‘cameo’. I feel like it’s a long time coming and I don’t know why we didn’t get it sooner but it warmed my heart to see her help Lizzie going through all her insecurities of feeling like she isn’t as good as her mother or even her sister. My baby is a powerful witch who can do whatever she sets her mind to, but she needs a hug every once in awhile!!!!

Also, JASIE!!!! Jade finally came back and I swear to you, I screamed at THE scene. I am a Hosie shipper first and human second, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t lowkey ship Jasie. That whole scene hit so many key elements but, at the same time, it hit all those elements because they weren’t trying to rush Jade’s leaving - which I understand but it can’t go unspoken.

Now come the bad parts. Although the singing was amazing in this episode (Kaylee, Jenna, Danielle, Chris and Ben blew me away with their singing) the songs were very... meh. I was expecting something up to par with “Stepping Into the Light” that Kaylee sang in season 1 but it was just... not. Were they horrible? No. Will I listen to them again? Most likely not. Which is a shame because this is a Musical. You want your songs to be good and catchy and to stay with the audience after the show ends.

Another not good thing was how they dealt with Handon... AGAIN! 

Look, I am so damn tired of them breaking up one episode only to get back together in the next without ever fixing the problem of why they broke up in the first place. I . AM . TIRED! Not only was it rushed but it also made no sense with what they did in the episode. Landon spent the whole episode disregarding Hope’s feelings. Hope deliberately asked him to not write about her family. What does he do? He writes about her family. Then, not only does he write about her family, he uses one of Klaus’ letters for Hope, PRIVATE letters, to write a music for a musical that Hope didn’t want her family to be a part of. Only for Hope to have a conversation about her dad with the MOTW, that although made complete sense for Hope’s development in relation to her family but not at all related to the problem at hand with the musical, and all of a sudden she is okay to be in the musical that she has been condemning the entire episode - and, not only is she okay with the musical, she is so okay that she uses that moment to sing to Landon and make up... out of nowhere.

There was quite literally no talking about their MANY problems before reconciliation. NOT ONLY THAT! But a song that was meant to be an emotional song about her father, ended up becoming about Landon. They are really doing their best here to make Hope’s character all about Landon.

Legacies needs to learn how to stick with a story line and develop it and build on it, so characters can evolve from it. Every time they break up Handon, the very next episode they put them back together. If you want to break them up and get them back together again at least drag it out for a few more episodes, so it feels like them getting back together was earned and not given jfc.

Anyway, to end on a positive note... The best part of the episode was Josie telling Landon “you gave up on Hope, like, twice.”. Yes he did, Josie. YES. HE. DID. Call out the hypocrisy.

[winnie-the-monster]

Okay I just really need to get this off my chest. Because it's at the point that I don't even want to go on the legacies Instagram page. And if Instagram is like that Im glad I'm not a Twitter because I can only imagine what that's like. On every post on Instagram all I see is. Why is Landon still alive? He's not even a main character or a legacies so why is he here, can we give Hope and the twins their show back . He's human now so why is he still at that school, can you send him somewhere never to be seen from again. Or people screaming Hosie endgame, we want Hosie, give us hosie. Hosie better than Handon cuz Hosie not toxic. Just wake in two weeks Handons are going to be mad when they break up.If Handon/Landon was gone and hosie happens it be so much better. Or we're still with malivore can we be done with already? And so on, and it's like that on every post. Even the ones that have nothing to do with Landon, Hope, Josie or Malivore.

Okay one Landon isn't human, he was never human. And just because he's getting called human right now doesn't mean anything. That's what they did back in season 1 until we found out what he was. And that's most likely what they're doing now until he gets his powers back. Also he is a main character, he's one of the two main characters(it goes Hope, Landon, the twins and then everyone else). And if people want to go for the whole not a legacy thing, then there should only be three people in this show. Also this show was never going to be a story about Hope and the twins. It was said so many times that story of this show is about Hope and Landon. Their story whatever that may be.

Two: once again its okay to ship who you want to ship. But it's not okay to bully the actors and show runners. Or to try to get someone fired because you don't like what's happening in the show. Or to twist what's said in interviews about what's going to happen this season. Brett said that this season we'll see Hope and Landon grew closer and stronger. Danielle even said she was excited about where Handon was going this season. And it was even said not to get your hopes up for the people who ship hosie. But I guess all some people what to hear is hosie is happening. Look I'm sorry but it doesn't look like that ship is happening.

I mean when I see that it makes me think some people are only watching for a ship or to hate on Landon and not the story itself. And I got a question why isn't more people talking about what's actually happening in the show. Like how everyone be treating Hope and Landon. With Landon no seemed to care that he was "dead" they just like oh okay. And no one seemed to care when they found out he was alive and trapped in the prison world full of monsters not knowing how much longer he could survivor there. They were just like oh okay cool. Let's wait another month to get him out. MG cared more about the fact that no want it to sit with him at lunch or see his side of things. With Hope they only go to her when they want or need something. And aren't really there for her when she needs them most. Even when she was grieving it was just kind like they were like okay it's been a day time to get over it. So they can use her to get new students and money for the school.

Or how about with Lizzie and Josie and stuff they get away with. With Lizzie and how every sense she has with Landon she's always calling him some type of name and putting him down. Or how for the first two seasons she acted as if MG feelings didn't matter. Or how about with Josie and how she never apologizes for anything she does(starting rumors about her sister and Hope. Killing Aylssa and Lizzie) or even trys to make up for it. She just runs away from it, I think even she knows she runs away from her problems(even Hope knows she does that). That's like saying if you run away from your problems enough you get to live a happy like. Why isn't more people talking about that stuff.

Now if someone was to say it'd be nice went about Malivore a different way or spent more time on Dark Josie. That I can understand and agree with. Like have Malivore use one the humans or vampire/werewolves that stuck inside as a vessel(I doubt Landon is the only one he could use as a vessel) for a time. Let one of character be able to talk to him. Or have us see what he being thinking/feels. Find out more about him and why he wants the things he wants. Or have Josie being Dark Josie half a season or even a season, have her embrace her dark side for a while. Or maybe turn her into a weird mix between Kai and Katherine. I think that could be fun to see. Or something like that.

[sillycheysblog]

Originally this was a rant post about Legacies but I decided to just make it a super long post about my problems with Legacies which includes the writers and their writing choices, the fandom, the plots, and the characters. 

Fair Warning: There may be somethings in here that you disagree with and somethings that you don’t like. If you disagree or don’t like what I have to say that’s okay. It’s your opinion and I respect your opinion. Here’s what your not going to do, is reply with hate because you don’t agree with what I have to say. Like mentioned, it’s my opinions. Also, I am writing this from my perspective. 

Like mentioned at the very beginning of this post, this is a super long post so if you want to read what I have to say then stay tuned, if not it’s okay just keep scrolling. 

Now let’s get started!

I’m going to start with the writers, but before I start, I just want to say that I am super grateful for having his show and thankful that it got renewed for a 4th season because I wasn’t ready to say goodbye yet. I also love the entire cast so much with the exception of Matt Davis. I am thankful for the work that the directors, producers, writers, actors, actresses, etc. put into this show but there are somethings that the writers do that really piss me off. One of the things that the writers do that pisses me off is putting in unnecessary lines. This correlates with the fan service. There wasn’t much of this in season 1, but there is some in season 2  where I am like “Did that really have to be written in there?”  and there is a recent line in 3x03 that is obviously written in there for a certain group of fans. In season 2, the line from 2x06 when Hope said “I had a crush on Josie for a week when we were 12” was unnecessary.  Like I mentioned in the beginning of this post, I am writing this from my perspective so I’m not trying to be disrespectful or biased, I’m proving my point. This line was completely out of nowhere in my opinion. We know Hope has so many other secrets. You’re telling me that this was the 2nd to 3rd thing to come to mind? The line was obviously written into the script for the Hosie stans. In addition, the line from 2x16 about the “nonconsensual kiss” was unnecessary. They knew that the next episode was going to have the same concept as 2x16. 3x01 was technically 2x17 meaning the Handon “true love kiss” was right after 2x16. If they wanted the Handon “true love kiss” they should of never put the “nonconsensual kiss” line in there because the Hosie stans would be pissed. They only put it in there to please the Hosie stans and that’s it. Now I wrote a whole post about this line, so I’m not going to spend to much time on it but if you want to read it, it’s right here. In season 3, the line from 3x03 when Josie says “You gave up on Hope twice” was so unnecessary. (1) Landon never gave up on Hope and (2) he never gave up on their relationship. So why was this line in there? It doesn’t make sense. Here’s what I’m thinking, it was only written in there for the fans that hate Landon because they knew that they would eat that up. There is no other logical explanation. If you think that Landon walking away from situations is giving up on her then your weird because that's not giving up on someone. That’s Landon walking away from situations because he doesn't know how to react to them so he walks away to have time to himself and think about how to react which isn’t surprising knowing the way he grew up. Now moving onto the writers baiting the fans. There are so many things that Julie Plec and the writers, mainly Julie Plec, has said that never ended up happening. For example, Julie Plec saying that Maya and Ethan were Hope’s love interest. Maya shows zero interest in Hope romatically. Ethan showed interest but Hope showed him no time of day because all she wanted was Landon. She also said that Hope and the twins would be in a love triangle. This for sure never happened. I don’t understand why so many people think that the writers are going to change. I stopped putting my trust in the writers a long long time ago. I especially stop putting my trust in Julie Plec after everything she did on TVD and TO. They queerbait the Hosie stans just so that they keep tuning in. Once they saw people shipping Hosie, they started adding in Hope and Josie scenes that gave them a glimmer of hope that it would happen. Julie Plec says and I quote, “I give people a glimmer of hope and then I crush them.”  I’m not understanding why people still believe a word that comes from out of her mouth. This relates with my next problem, the way the writers keep writing off love interest for Josie. I understand why Penelope was written off because Lulu had other priorities but Jade, really? They said that Jade would be around for a while and she literally was here for 1 episode. They didn’t even explore their relationship. I really liked Josie and Jade and I wanted to see more of them, but they just wrote Jade off. Don’t get me started on them writing Raf and so many other people of color off. I did make a post about how they did Raf wrong so if you want to read it, it’s here. 

My next problem with the show is the plot and the monster of the week thing. Now don’t get me wrong, I do like the monster of the week to a certain extent. I think the monster of the week made so much sense in season 1, but made no sense in season 2 and here’s why. Firstly, there was monsters who came from Malivore who’s master was Malivore but then you had monsters who came from Malivore who had different masters such as the Sphrinx. The Sphrinx only showed up to tell the school about a prophecy. He did not want Landon at all. In fact, he told Raf to take Landon far away from the school. Then there was monsters who came from Malivore who’s master was the Necromancer such as the monster from 2x10 that feed on insecurities. That monster was at the school only for  the dark magic that the Necromancer wanted. It just made no sense at all. In addition, the plot was all over the place. The first half of the season was good especially the built up of dark Josie, but after episode 4 it was a big question mark. For example, Landon knowing that he was seeing Hope every time he died, but wanted to have sex with Josie the next episode? The way it was written was like “huh?” The first half of the season was about everyone not remembering Hope. But what was the second half of the season about? Dark Josie? Dark Josie was literally there for like 1 or 2 episodes. The plot didn’t add up. Another example, the whole message in 2x16′s episode made zero sense. The message was about Josie “being strong and being able to pick your own story” but then they have Josie put her magic in a coin? I’m leaving it here because I can go on and on about the inconsistency in this show. I can’t really talk about season 3 yet because we are still on season 2 episodes. And that’s probably why people think its feels weird because it’s technically season 2 episodes and season 2′s plot just made absolutely no sense.

My next problem is that there are so many things brought up in the show that are never talked about ever again. For example, Landon drowning himself all summer long. He was killing himself all summer! He even said it started out with him killing himself just to kill himself until he realized that he was seeing Hope. The writers just glided of that like it was nothing. Did he ever tell anyone other than Raf and Josie? Did he even tell Hope? I have so many questions. Also what about Josie and Raf? They showed an interest in each other back in season 1 and they even shared a kiss. But this was never talked about again. It was like nothing happened. Anyway moving on. 

The next problem is how none of the characters have an actual storyline. Hope’s storyline is revolved around saving everyone which I hate. I hate how she is always the one that people depend on to save the day. Landon’s storyline is supposedly Malivore? But the writers decided to take 3 steps back and make him human again. I made a post about how he may get his powers back so if you want you can look at that it’s right here. Mg has no storyline, Kaleb has no storyline, Jed has no storyline, and Josie has no storyline. The only person that has a storyline that shows growth is Lizzie. Now there is new characters such as Ethan and Cleo. I’m not understanding why they don’t focus on developing the characters storyline of the characters they already have but whatever. Like mentioned before, I’m not going to talk that much about season 3 because we are technically still on season 2 content but I do know that we will get some development in the characters so I will wait. That’s all I have to say about this.

Lastly, my next problem is the fandom. A fandom is apart of any show so that’s why I’m including this. I have a lot to say about this. TVDU fandom is just toxic. Point. Blank. and a Period. Some people in this fandom are just hypocrites. I don’t even know where to start. I’m going to start with how people make so  many excuses for the ones that they love when they know they are in the wrong. Josie for example burned her ex’s hair, burned down Hope’s room because Hope didn’t have the same feelings for her, lied to Lizzie about who started the rumor about her, she killed Alyssa, burned down a part of the Salvatore school, broke Ethan’s arm and forced Lizzie into the merge. Now I am not coming at Josie by all means, I’m proving my point. Even though Josie did all this, you still have people who make excuses for why she did it. Just because you love a character, doesn’t mean you can’t call them out when they are wrong. This goes into Hope because people put Hope on this high pedestal as if she is never wrong, but she is. She isn’t always right. I’m not going to talk about the whole argument thing from last week between Handon because I made a post about that already so if you want you can go read it, it’s here. I think it’s in the post about 3x02, but anyways she isn’t always right. As much as I love Hope, I call her out on her bs and that goes with every other character. The fandom also uses the words such as “toxic” or “abusive” because they hate a character. For example, Landon gets the most hate out of every character for no reason. I was on twitter and I saw a tweet from someone saying “Landon is emotionally abusive because he brought up Klaus.” and “Handon is an abusive relationship” And I am like “WHAT?” are you being serious right now? (1) abuse is a serious thing and it shouldn’t be used lightly so the fact that people are using it lightly because they hate a character so much is disgusting. People go deal with abuse on a daily basis and your using the word like it’s not a serious situation. The lengths that people would go in this fandom because they aren’t getting something they want is insane. The death threats that people send to the writers, people from other ships, and the actors and actresses is rude and disgusting. Now I am about to be blatantly honest right now and if you don’t like it then oh well🤷‍♀️. There is a specific group of people in the fandom that spreads hate. I’m not going to name names because there is no need point fingers and start stuff for no reason. I’m not saying everyone from this particular group does it, there are some that are cool, but a majority of them are the ones that spread the hate. I’m not saying other people from other groups in the fandom don’t do this, but I haven’t seen that many do it. Now don’t get me wrong, I understand why this specific group is upset about the choices that the writers make but they’re still a person who has feelings. There used to be ships that I loved but now I don’t like because of the way the fans within that ship acts. For example, I used to like Hosie. I use to say if Landon wasn’t there, I would love to see Hosie, but then I saw the way the people who shipped them acted and that made me stop shipping Hosie. And I also just grew closer to Handon more but there is no need to spread hate on other people’s ships because you are mad that something isn’t happening the way you want it too. No one should be sending hate to actors and actresses because you hate their character or because you hate the what the character did in the show. The character isn’t the actor. Separate the two. The actor is portraying the character. I know that nothing is going to change within the fandom but it’s irritating. Spreading hate isn’t going to get you want you want. Attacking writers, other people in the fandom, or the actors is not going to get you want you want. This goes for everybody in the fandom, not just the one specific group. You can’t demand what you want and think its going to happen because you demanded it. So I am just going to end this here. I am not trying to bash anybody, I am just calling out what I see.

Anyways, I’m sorry for this long post. I am not trying to be rude at all, I’m just being honest. I don’t want to argue. I just wanted to talk about problems within Legacies, the writers, and the fandom. I felt like talking about how I felt about certain situations and how I view certain situations. If you didn’t like anything I said then that’s your own opinion and I respect your opinion. If you have anything else would like to say about the show, send a reply. But aside from that I hope you have a good day! ❤